Attack on Titan: Legacy
by Kelly Cannon
Summary: Every titan was human and titans were led into the walls until a cure is found. This allowed people to live anywhere they pleased. Eren's daughter grew up in a very different world than he had, so he tried his best to shield her from the cruelness he dealt with at her age. Her life would change on her twelfth birthday when members of the Scout Regiment decide to visit Eren.
1. Episode 1: That Day

**A group of friends and I had come up with the idea for this fanfiction a few weeks ago. We are very passionate about the idea and wanted to share it with people. I began writing our ideas down into this story and began to imagine how it would look as an animation. None of us can animate nor do we know an animator so our project is at a halt. Also, we didn't know how the idea would even take with the public. So, we thought it would be a good idea to post it on my fanfiction account as we come up with the episodes to see how others like it. I hope you all enjoy and maybe in the future this will be animated into a fan-made series on YouTube :)**

**~KC**

Episode 1

"Look, he's at it again."

Liz waved her hand in front of her friend's face to catch her attention. The girl blinked a couple of times before taking her bright green eyes off of the book she was reading. She followed Liz Bandura over to the sliding glass door and out onto the patio. A sigh escaped her when she saw her father.

He was barefoot in the sand, allowing the ocean waves to tickle his feet. His arms were outstretched wide as the wind picked up speed. The wind blew his dark brown hair in all directions. They had lived in the beach house for as long as she could remember, but her father stood outside like that at least once a day.

"Why does he do that?" questioned Liz, with a puzzled look on her pale face. Her blue eyes scanned the scene before her. It was only the ocean. She lived on the beach almost her whole life. He acted like the sight was new to him. "We see this every day."

"Aye, Carla," Eren called over his shoulder after hearing Liz's voice. Where there was Liz, Carla was sure to follow. Liz was more of the leader out of the two of them, so Carla must be outside with her. He shut his eyes and let a long sigh out into the wind. "Come join your old man down here."

"Old man?" snickered Liz and elbowed Carla.

"Shut up. At least my dad and mom aren't sixty," Carla shot back. It wasn't exactly a secret that Eren was young when Carla was born. He was maybe sixteen at the time. She didn't know much about the how or why, but she did know mom left. Eren was all alone to take care of Carla.

Liz threw up her hands in defense and smiled. "I'm just saying. He's in his twenties. Shouldn't be calling himself old."

"It's old for how things used to be... You know, during the war," Carla told her as she recalled history lessons with her father. Twelve-year-olds would join the military and train for three years before being thrown into different regiments. When the world went to hell with titan attacks, majority of soldiers would die an early death. It worried her that someone so young could fight what was once such terrifying creatures. _She _was a day away from being old enough to begin training. "That was a scary time. I'm... I'm glad my dad didn't have to go through it. He just lived in fear of the wall being broken down."

"Yeah..." Liz responded, refusing to look at her friend. She clearly did not want to talk about it anymore. Carla felt bad about the situation growing dark so fast, so she patted her friend on the back and stood next to her father.

"Tomorrow's a big day," said Eren, not taking his eyes off of the ocean. Carla swore his smile grew bigger. "I wish there were as many job options for me when I was your age. All I had to choose from was the military and moving rocks or picking plants. Do you know what you want to do?"

"I don't have to pick right away, right?" she questioned, suddenly growing nervous. The job she would choose would be her lifelong job. That was absolutely terrifying. How was a twelve-year-old supposed to know what they wanted to do until they died? Carla went through the choices in her mind. A historian for the king sounded ideal to her. History was her favorite topic during homeschooling with Eren.

"Naaaaaaah, but soon. Can't have you sitting around forever," he joked with her and nudged her with his elbow. That was the exact opposite of how he felt, though. If Carla wanted to stay until she finished schooling, he would be very happy with that. Carla was all he had anymore.

Other options went through her mind. The thought of the military completely scared her. She was really small for her age, so she felt like someone of her stature wouldn't fit in well. Liz highly considered it, but she was more well fit for it. Her friend was tall, strong, a good leader, and independent. Carla was more of a studier and she honestly couldn't remember the last time she did something without Liz by her side. Accidentally thinking out loud, Carla sighed, "Military..."

Eren snapped his head toward his daughter. Carla gasped at his sudden action and winced when Eren's easygoing attitude morphed into anger. Before she could explain, Eren shot at her, "No. You can pick up dog shit for all I care, but you will _not _join the military."

"I... I..." Carla turned her head away from him, refusing to be under his disapproving glare any longer. She couldn't find the words to say to him. Never in her life had she seen Eren in such a stage of anger. Every time he would discipline her, he was always gentle in tone and actions. This was on a way different level.

"Go back to Liz and rethink your choice." Eren turned back to the ocean, refusing to see Carla. His mind was swimming at the thought of his little daughter trying to keep up with her training corps. Annie, who was also small, did an excellent job keeping up, in fact she was in the top ten, but Carla wasn't Annie. Then he thought about Carla joining the Scout Regiment. Being in the Scout Regiment wasn't the same anymore as back then, but they still traveled around the land searching for roaming titans. Even though there weren't as many deaths, it was still a dangerous job. People still were eaten as they tried to lead titans to the walls. Eren clinched his fists at the thought of Carla being grabbed by a titan.

The sun began to set behind her when Carla pushed past Liz and back into the house. Liz called after her, but Carla slammed her room door behind her. A knock soon followed and she grunted to Liz, "Enter."

"Hey, what happened? I've never seen you two interact like that." Liz leaned against the wall and watched Carla read the book she was holding. It was like her friend wasn't even listening. That was what Carla always did when she was upset. Instead of talking about it, she shut out the world. She pulled the book out of Carla's hands, so she would have no choice but to stare at Liz's face. "I'm talking to you! What happened?"

"He asked me if I knew what job I wanted to do after my birthday tomorrow," she started.

"Historian for the king. That's what you've wanted to do for the past year and half."

"Yeah, but I thought about all the options for a brief moment. I accidentally said something about the military and he flipped out!"

Liz's eyes darted to the door as if to check if anyone was standing in the doorway. After a few seconds, she said in a low tone, "Maybe he has his reasons for that."

Carla huffed at her response and rolled her eyes. She rolled onto her side and faced the wall. "Do you still want to join the military?"

"You know I want to join to Retainment Corps. That's all I've wanted to do my whole life." Liz's tone hinted at her grief. The Retainment Corps was a new branch added to the military after the giant titan war ended. After the discovery that all titans were normal people that were injected, the Scout Regiment teamed up with the Garrison trapped the remaining titans inside the walls. With the titans inside the walls, people can live outside wherever they please. More importantly, the titans stay safe inside until a cure could be found to return them back to normal.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bring up bad memories..." Carla apologized, realizing her mistake.

Liz's older brother was injected at some point in his life. His titan form roamed deep inside of the walls away from his family. The government kept promising to find a cure for everyone's loved ones trapped in titan form, but they never followed through. Her older brother would probably forever roam the forbidden land. Liz wanted to join the Retainment Corps to watch over him until a cure's found.

"It's fine. I was just a baby when he changed. But it would be nice if he had someone who cares for him there when he wakes up, you know?" Liz smiled at the thought of her brother returning back into a human. Trying to change the topic to a lighter subject and to cheer her friend up, Liz laughed, "Hey, tomorrow's the big birthday. I'm ready to party with you tomorrow. Is Hics coming?"

"He better!" Carla interjected with annoyance. She would be more upset if he didn't come than Liz. Even though Liz and Carla hung out twenty-four/seven, her oldest and best friend was Tyler. In fact, she was the one that coined his famous nickname "Hics." Hics had moved next door when they were four and the duo had been best friends since. Granted, he was the only kid around until Liz's family moved in not too long after, but she was thankful out of everyone that could have moved in first that it was Hics.

Liz picked up a picture of the three of them off of Carla's nightstand. They were eight-years-old in the picture and had come inside after swimming in the ocean. Carla laughed at how at the faces the three were making and how odd Liz's blonde hair looked against her and Hics's dark brown hair. She told her friend, "We used to be so cute. Wonder what happened?"

"I'm hella sexy and don't you forget it, Jaeger!" Liz exclaimed and jokingly shoved Carla's shoulder. The girls laugh for a bit before Liz stood up to leave. "Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow!"

An hour or two had passed with Carla laying in bed and staring up at the ceiling. Her mind was flooded with thoughts about how her birthday might be the last day her and her two friends would ever be together. Liz and Hics both already had their twelfth birthday, but they wanted to wait until Carla made a decision on what she wanted to do. The two both wanted to join the military while Carla wanted to live inside the king's castle and be his historian. She wondered if they waited in hopes that Carla would change her mind.

Even if she did change her mind, Liz and Hics wanted to join different branches of the military. While Liz wanted to go to the Retainment Corps, Hics wanted to join the Military Police and work for the king. Being a proud Military Police member ran in his family and Hics didn't want to break tradition. He constantly talked about how proud his parents and brothers would be once he made it to a high rank. At least, if Carla decided to stay on the path of being a historian, Hics would be somewhere around the kingdom.

A knock on her door broke her from her thoughts. Eren opened her door with a sad look. He tried to give Carla a smile, but she could tell it was fake. Her father greeted her with, "Aye, Carla."

"Aye, Dad," she gave her usual response, but he could tell she was upset with him. He snapped at her without a good explanation. If he told what that was all about, things could go back to the way it was. "You know... I don't want to actually join the military. I was thinking through options and accidentally spoke out loud. I want to be a historian for the king."

"Oh... The thought of losing you..." Eren stopped speaking. There was only so much he could say without giving away too much. Even though being a historian was much better and safer than joining the military, Carla being a historian set him on edge. If she began to study the past, everything he built up would come crashing down. "How about you just stay here and finish schooling first? The king allows that option now. You don't have to go straight to work. That will give you more time to decide and you can be more sure that way."

"Liz and Hics are so sure of what they want to do in life. They're so set on the military. I feel dumb for not knowing one hundred percent what I want. Historian sounds amazing, but it's such a big decision..." She was done with that topic. That was all anyone seemed to want to talk to her about for the past week, all leading up to her birthday. No more would be said about it. "Is it too late to go swimming? Let's go swimming."

"W-What? Really?" Eren was surprised. It had been a really long time since Carla wanted to go swimming, especially with her father instead of her two friends. He raised an eyebrow and smirked as he offered, "How about we surf tomorrow instead? That way it's not cold. I've heard from your friends that you've got some sick tricks now."

"Not as good as you!" she admitted, blushing. Carla didn't like to brag and was a bit embarrassed that her friends would brag for her. That was a trait that she wished she could be rid of. Eren was always so proud of everything he did and talked like it was no big deal. She couldn't do that. "Dad, I wish I was more like you."

_No, I'm the last person on this earth that you want to be like,_ he thought, but didn't say. He wondered how much her opinion of him would change if she knew the truth about him. She would probably hate him. A lot of people hated him. Instead of giving her some sort of response, he tucked her in bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Eren smiled and whispered, "Goodnight, Carla. Sleep well tonight."

_Knock-knock!_

"Carla, get the door!" she heard Eren call, but she was already on her way to the door.

It was early afternoon on her birthday. Her and Eren had barely been inside from a round of surfing before someone arrived to the house. Carla had just enough time to put on clothes and grab a towel for her hair. She tried her best to ring her hair out and attempted to rub the salt water out. Tossing the towel aside, she ran to the door.

"Hey..." her voice trailed off when she didn't recognize the people at the door. Three adults in Scout Regiment uniforms stood before her. She didn't know much about the military, but she did know that the Garrison had troops stationed in every town. They were around to keep to the peace between the people and just in case a lone titan happens to wonder into town before the Scout Regiment could find it. At first, she thought maybe she had the logo of the two mixed up, but the green capes and hoods confirmed that she was staring at members of the Scout Regiment. "Dad..."

"Oh my goodness, it's a little Jaeger! Man, Eren must have gotten busy pretty quick!" the only girl member shouted in excitement. Her auburn hair was pulled back and bounced a lot when she leaned forward and grabbed Carla's hands. Carla tried to back up, but the woman held strong. "I'm Sasha. It's so nice to meet you, little Jaeger!"

"Dad!" called Carla more urgently.

"He won't mind if we just waltz in. We are old friends, you see," one of the men said. The practically bald man pushed past her and walked straight into the house. Sasha let Carla go and grabbed onto his hand.

"Excuse Sasha and Connie. They have bad manners," the blond man apologized for them. He scratched the back of his head nervously as he stared at Carla. After a few moments of awkward silence, he held out his hand for her to shake. "Armin. Your dad and I go way back."

She was hesitant to shake his hand, but she accepted it. Carla began to wonder why and how these Scout Regiment soldiers would know her father. Maybe it was the same predicament she was in. He wanted to stay home while his friends ran off to the military. The more she thought about it, the more unlike Eren that sounded. Letting go of Armin's hand, she introduced herself. "Carla."

"I see..." said Armin, who's eyes grew a bit wider. At the sound of her name, Armin's heart ached for Eren. He wondered if the girl knew the story of her grandmother. She was named after her, after all. Or maybe, she didn't know. Eren had contacted anyone in about thirteen years, so maybe that was something he tried to forget about but still wanted to honor his mother.

"Why are you he-" Carla started.

"Pardon me, I need to go speak to your father," Armin suddenly said and stepped around Carla, who stood there dumbfounded.

Once Armin wasn't in her line of vision, Carla spotted Hics watching the situation from the street. The boy must have been heading to her house and saw the Scouts at her door. He appeared just as confused as she was. Carla waved her friend over. Hics nodded and jogged over, his medium length black hair flying in every direction. When he reached her, he asked, "Uh... Why are there people from the Scouts here? We're nowhere near titan territory."

"They're looking for my dad..."

Hics suddenly scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do or say. His dark brown eyes blinked a couple of times before he decided to grab Carla's arm. He pulled her into the house and told her over his shoulder, "Well, you should find out. This is really odd."

After walking through the bright, white entryway, the two were in the living room. Connie and Sasha had made themselves at home on the couch. Sasha laid stretched across the couch with her head in Connie's lap. When she spied Hics, she squealed, "Are you _another _Jaeger?! There are so many of you!"

"Er..." was all Hics could say.

"No, just me. He lives next door," Carla told her, her voice uneasy.

"For a moment, I thought Eren was breeding like a rabbit," laughed Connie as he patted Sasha's head. That was when Carla noticed his leg. From the knee down, what should have been skin and bones was a metal rod that curved upwards at the bottom. Connie's bottom half of his left leg was gone. Knowing he was in the Scouts, she wanted to ask him if it was bitten off by a titan, but that might be a rude question. Connie broke her train of thought with, "If we weren't still in the Scouts..."

"I'll keep these idiots busy. Go find out what's going on," whispered Hics as Connie started rambling about inappropriate things. Trying to catch Connie and Sasha's attention, Hics announced, "Hey, so I'm wanting to join the military and eventually make it into the Military Police. Any advice?"

"Oh, you're one of _those_," Connie snickered at Hics.

"Don't be rude. Joining the Military Police is more of an honor nowadays than it was during our time in training," corrected Sasha as she bopped Connie on the nose with her finger. Her husband made a face at her before tenderly smiling.

Carla left Hics to deal with the two and slipped into the hall toward Eren's room. She could hear movement coming from the room, but no one spoke. His door was almost shut, so Carla slowly pushed it far enough open so she could see her father and Armin. Over the next few moments, Carla began to question everything she knew about her father.

Armin's mouth hung slightly open and tears formed in his eyes at the sight of his old friend. He wanted to hug his friend badly, but Eren just sat on his bed and stared at the ground. The soldier couldn't figure out what was going through his friend's mind, so he broke the silence first with, "I... Everyone thought you were _dead_, Eren..."

Eren didn't respond, but he lifted his eyes toward Armin. He was delighted to see that his childhood friend was alive and well, but at the same time, Eren wanted to kick Armin out of the house. The mixed emotions made it difficult for Eren to find the right words to say, so he instead allowed Armin to speak his mind. Whatever came next, Eren knew he deserved it.

"But... You're alive. _You're alive _and haven't contacted any of us! Have you been here the whole time, Eren? When you disappeared, did you run straight here? Did you quit the Scouts to hide away from... From... There's no damn reason for you to hide!" Armin's voice started to raise in volume and tears spilled over. Eren looked away again, causing Armin's anger to grow. Knowing that yelling and anger never led to a solution, Armin took a moment to calm himself again before continuing. "When you disappeared in battle, you were reported missing in action. No one saw what happened to you and you never returned, so we had no choice but to believe you died. Also, at that point, the war against titans was pretty much over. Was that all faked for you to run away?"

Eren opened his mouth to say something, but shut it. A long sigh left him before he stood up. He wasn't very tall for a guy, but he was still taller than Armin. His eyes looked down at Armin as he searched for words again. If it wasn't such a special day, Eren would spend all day confessing everything to Armin, but he had more important things to do. This confrontation couldn't happen today, so Eren, still not looking at Armin, coldly commanded, "Get out of my house."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Armin practically growled as he threw a folded up piece of paper at Eren. He couldn't believe this was the same man that gave humanity hope against all odds so many years ago. The person that sat before him was only a ghost of the friend he used to have. Maybe Eren had his reasons-reasons which he couldn't understand-for acting like he was, but Armin's patience was running thin.

Eren unfolded the paper to reveal a letter that was written in his own handwriting. He didn't even have to read it to know exactly what it was. Throwing the letter back at Armin, Eren was careful not to raise his voice. "Where the hell did you get this?"

"If you wanted to stay in hiding, you shouldn't have written letters to Levi. When he caught wind of our current issue, he was quick to give us your location because you'd be perfect for the job." Armin tried to put his personal emotions aside when he spoke. It hurt a lot to admit that Eren would try to contact Levi, but never bothered to contact anyone else. He also wondered if Levi was in on Eren's plan to fake his death, but that wasn't why Armin was at Eren's house. If he was able to convince Eren to come back, he would have plenty of time to dig answers out of Eren.

"You're here to convince me to rejoin the Scouts, aren't you?" Eren raised an eyebrow as he asked Armin.

"I don't know why you would fake your death and run away, but we really need you back. Please consider it."

"You haven't even told me why."

"It's... Classified."

Eren rolled his eyes and sighed again. Even after years had passed, the Scout Regiment was still untrusting of everyone. He, of all people, should be trusted over the others because he built up a great reputation with his actions while being a Scout. Then it occurred to him that his reputation was probably shattered when it was revealed that he was alive. Regardless, his answer was still, "No way in hell. I have a daughter, Armin. I can't just leave her."

"According to Levi, in one of your letters you mentioned her birth date. She turned twelve today, yes? She's about to leave the house anyways. What are you going to do, huh? Sit around while she's off working somewhere?" Armin felt like he may be pushing Eren too far, but it was the only edge he could use to convince Eren to come back.

"I'm living the dream right now. I have an amazing child and I wake up to the ocean every day. Don't ruin this for me, Armin."

"Have you talked to your dad yet?" Hics's voice made Carla jump and alerted the two men that the kids were outside of the room. Carla punched him in the arm in response and he put his hands up in defense.

Eren flung his door opened and stared down at Carla. She backed all the way against the hall's wall to get away from her father. When he reached for her, she pushed his hand away. Carla felt like she didn't even know who her father truly was. If everything Armin had said was true, Eren used to be in the Scouts. Not only that, he was a pretty important member of the Scouts. And he quit... He made everyone believe he was dead. Why would he do that?

"Carla, I-"

"You lied to me! All those stories you told me about you growing up... None of it was true!" she interrupted him. Carla shook her head slowly in disbelief. "What else have you lied to me about?"

"I have never lied to you. You are the one person I've always told the truth to," Eren truthfully told her. He never really did lie to her. Every story and history lesson he had given, he just left parts out. Anything that included him being in the Scout Regiment and fighting titans was just left out.

"Are you serious?!" she yelled at her father. She didn't know how big of a hero her father supposedly was in the Scout Regiment, but he sounded pretty important. Not telling her about his real identity was a pretty big lie in her books. "You told me you picked plants when you turned twelve!"

"I never said that." He was hesitant to add the rest of the sentence, but it was necessary for her to hear. "You... You just assumed that when I didn't say anything about the military."

"Who are you?!" Carla's eyes filled with water. She wiped them away as she stated her thoughts out loud, "More importantly, who am I? I grew up being influenced by a liar! God, you lied to the freaking military about being dead!"

"Carla..."

"Is that the real reason you freaked out when I said something about the military? You were afraid you'd be found out! Scared I'd find the truth!" Carla pushed. He didn't even have to answer for her to figure it out. That was all she needed to know. She grabbed Hics's arm and practically dragged him to her room.

"Wait, Carla! Shouldn't we hear what he has to say?" Hics tried to reason with her, but her fury blocked out all logic. He stopped talking when she slammed her door, trapping them both in the room. The boy couldn't recall seeing Carla this angry. She looked crazed. On a few occasions, Hics had seen that face on someone else: Eren. Maybe the anger was something she inherited from her father. Not sure what to do, he allowed Carla to sit and think for awhile.

After what felt like thirty minutes, Carla began scribbling something on a piece of paper with ferocity. Hics tried to read it over her shoulder, but she moved in the way so he couldn't read it. He touched his palm to his forehead and let out a long sigh as he shook his head. His friend was normally so calm, but this was a different side of her. This was how Carla was when she felt betrayed.

"Let's get out of here. We're going to find Liz and we're going to leave," Carla suddenly said before slamming her writing utensil on her desk. She propped her window open and let the ocean breeze blow her hair around. Hics grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back inside before she could crawl out. He was surprised when she called him by his real name. "Let me go, Tyler!"

"What are you planning on doing, huh? You can't just run away and expect us to blindly follow you."

"The military. I want to join the military with you two. It was dumb of me to ever consider something separate from you," she admitted to him. That wasn't the only reason she was suddenly so willing, but she wouldn't tell him it was an act of defiance. All he needed to know was the better half of the truth, which was that she couldn't imagine living life without him and Liz. It was such a strange thought that moments ago she wanted to go off on her own to be a historian. How boring. His face became red as she continued, "You're my best friend. Can we really go our separate ways after growing up together? Let's go, Hics. Let's run away together."

"Okay," he simply said after a moment of silence. The boy followed her out of the window.

Eren forced Armin, Connie, and Sasha to leave his home. He refused Armin's offer again and closed the door in his face. The man walked to his daughter's door and lightly knocked while calling out, "Carla?"

The silence weighed on him so heavily. He slowly turned the doorknob as he entered her safe haven. His blood ran cold when he saw that her room was empty. A piece of paper blew in the wind around the floor. Eren snatched it up and began to read it, hearing Carla's voice as he read it silently.

_Dad..._

Hics's mom hugged her son tightly as he told her the news of him leaving for the military that day. Tears streamed down her face, but she was smiling. She gave Carla a warm smile before hugging her also. The mother whispered in her ear, "Take care of him, okay?"

_I don't know what it was that caused you to lie to me for so long. I keep trying to get inside your head, but I can't figure out the solution. Maybe you've done something you didn't want me to know. Maybe you're afraid the truth would hurt more than this lie. Maybe you did it for me for some reason, I really don't know._

Liz's old man of a father patted her on the head. He mentioned something about being proud of the woman she will become and made her promise to not return home until she brought her brother along with her. With tears in her eyes, Liz said goodbye to her father.

_Maybe you're hiding from someone. Maybe you're afraid of someone chasing you and you wanted to hide it from me so I wasn't scared. Maybe you wanted to protect your friends from something unknown to them._

Armin, Connie, and Sasha returned to Commander Erwin with no results. Erwin requested to see Armin alone. The young man reported that they found Eren alive, but he refused to join the Scout Regiment again. Silently, Erwin spun around in his chair and stared out the window. Jaeger was alive. Even if he didn't join just yet, there was hope that he soon would be back. Soon, their problems might all be solved.

_Maybe... There was no reason. You just did it. And honestly, that is the option I have to believe for now. A lot of who I am now is based on the lies that I grew up believing. I want to find the real me. You found who you are through the Scout Regiment, so I think I can find me through the military also. Hopefully by the time you are reading this, Liz, Hics, and I will be long gone. Hopefully, we'll be on our way to training._

Eren sat his old Scout Regiment uniform on his desk. It was ragged and blood stained parts of the cape. The blood was never his, but he didn't want to wash it away. The blood helped him remember the ones he loved that died in battle. And now, it reminded him of his daughter. His stomach dropped as he imagined Carla in the clutches of a titan.

_Don't come after me. I know how tempted you'll be. Leave me to train for three years. If I can't handle it, I promise I'll come home and we can talk then. If I don't, leave me be. I hope to see you at my graduation after three years. Dad, I really wish you will be ready to tell the truth about everything. That is all I can ask from you in that time is that you find the courage to tell me the truth._

Eren began to write his seventy-fifth letter to Levi Ackerman next to his Scouts uniform. His hands were shaking as thoughts flooded his mind. He wrote Levi often for over twelve years, but never once hear back from the man. Levi was the only person until recently that knew he was alive, so he felt he needed to talk to _someone_. Even though he never received a response, Eren continued to write more letters because he believed his letters weren't reaching Levi. Armin had confirmed for him that his letters were being delivered. After ripping up the current letter he was writing, Eren slammed his fist on his desk in frustration.

_What was that guy's name? Armor, Armon, Armin? Something like that. He asked you to rejoin the Scout Regiment. I want you to do it. Sounds like you owe it to them and it sounds like you two go back a ways. Go. Do great things again. Maybe, we'll both be doing great things in different parts of the military._

After putting on his old soldier clothes, Eren gave the Scout Regiment cape a few good snaps in the air to shake the dust off. He wore the cape with the pride he once had for his regiment. Eren gave the ocean one more long look before he walked away from his home for a long time.

_I know. Fighting, whether it be hand-to-hand or titans, seems unlike me. That is part of the process of finding who I am. Who knows, I might actually enjoy it. Actually, I will enjoy it. Hics and Liz will be at my side. They're all I need to enjoy myself, no matter where I am._

All the recruits of the 117th training corps stood side by side in an attention stance. Carla tried to hold her head high as they waited for their instructor to pass through her line. She could spot Hics from the corner of her eye. He gave her a quick goofy smile, which lifted her mood. Her eyes flickered to Liz, who was on her other side. Liz appeared right at home and proud of where she was.

_I still believe you're a good person, Dad. Especially if it turns out you really were a great hero in the titan wars. If all that turns out to be true, I want to become just as great as you were. If it isn't true, I want to find the truth. I want to know what it truly means to be Carla Jaeger._

"Jaeger!" the instructor called her name, snapping her out of her daze. The training was about to begin.


	2. Episode 2: 117 Training Corps

Episode 2

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. There's no way you're not a Jaeger," the instructor growled as he put his face incredibly close to hers. It took everything in Carla to not wince or sink away from him. The man continued, "Eren must be alive and kicking if you're in existence. What stupid name did he give you?"

Carla was intimidated by the man. She didn't like the way he talked as if he knew her father. It was unsettling to hear that many people knew who Eren was while in reality she felt like she had never met the man. Everyone knew the real Eren but her. Not being able to find the right words, Carla wondered how many more times people would ask her about Eren.

"Her name is Carla Jaeger, Mr. Kirstein, sir!" Liz suddenly spoke up for Carla. The taller girl did not break attention as she said it while Carla whipped her head Liz's direction in surprise. She was defending her friend, but the girl had spoken out of turn.

Jean took one step to the side so he was in front of Liz. It amazed him that Liz was almost as tall as he was when he was her age. She was a mighty tall girl. Liz would be a great asset to the military. It was rare girls of her stature came around. Pushing his thoughts of her future aside, he yelled in her face, "What is your name and where are you from?"

"Liz Bandura, sir!" Liz went from attention to saluting her higher ranked officer. Her blonde bangs and short curls bounced during the movement. "We are both from Seaside Residency!"

"Seaside Residency..." Jean repeated skeptically. "That's a place where rich people go to retire."

"My parents are quite old. I was born late into their lives." Liz held her ground against Jean's questions.

Jean turned his head back to Carla. Eren was hiding away in a retirement neighborhood all those years. He wanted to be upset that Eren allowed them to believe he died, but that wasn't what made him upset. Instead of doing his civic duty with the Scout Regiment, Eren ran away. Letting his anger out on Carla, he shouted at her, "The damn bastard is hiding away and living the good life, huh?"

"Eren is not a bastard for wanting a good life for his daughter," Liz spoke up again, still in a salute position.

All eyes were on Liz after that. Jean raised his hand up to slap her, but stopped centimeters from her face. Liz shut her eyes, but did not flinch during the motion. Her eyes fluttered open and saw that Jean was close to contact. He warned her in a low voice, "Don't talk back again. I won't be so kind the next time."

Jean moved over to Hics next. The boy wasn't as confident as his friend was. He could see how confident Liz was, but he held almost the same reclusiveness as Carla had. His wasn't as strong and knew he would be able to speak when spoken to, but he had a feeling in his gut what was going to happen once he opened his mouth. It always happened when he became nervous.

"What is your name and where are you from, stubby?" Jean towered over Hics. The boy wasn't short, but he was shorter for a guy. Hics felt like an ant standing in front of his instructor.

"Ty-" And there it was. The infamous hiccup that would arise in the worst possible moments. It was always loud, high pitched, and unexpected. Strangely enough, the hiccup would only happen once. Never twice nor did he ever have real hiccups. Just the one hiccup a few times a day. "-ler Johnson. I am from Seaside Residency."

"Sweet merciful gods, what the hell was that?" Other than what was just said, Jean was absolutely speechless. How was he supposed to react to that? The boy seemed to notice Jean's confusion and silence. He ducked his head after a few moments. Jean used his pointer finger to raise the boy's chin back up and locked eyes with him. "Well? Are you broken?"

"My friends have called me Hics most of my life, sir. It just happens. I really don't know," Hics was quick to tell him. He could hear the snickers of a female trainee a few people down the line. Carla and Liz would sometimes play with him about his hiccups, but never really made fun of him for it. Hearing others laugh and make fun of him for it was new to him. His face blushed a bright red in embarrassment. When Jean stepped away from him, his head hung low.

"Hey... Don't worry about that, Hics," Carla whispered after Jean walked toward the snickering girl. Hics lifted his eyes toward his best friend when she addressed him. She didn't like seeing him upset, so she said something to cheer him up. "That was actually adorable. All the girls probably think you're the cutest guy here now."

Hics gave her a half-hearted smile and rolled his eyes. He didn't want to hear about other girls, but she couldn't know that. At least she was trying to cheer him up. It was better than nothing.

"What the hell is so funny, ginger?" Jean screamed in the laughing girl's face.

The girl smirked and switched to a salute stance. The orangish-red pigtails that stood high on the side of her head swayed back and forth. She was incredibly pale compared to the rest of the squad, even Liz. The trio had never seen someone paler than Liz before. Her skin was covered in so many freckles that they almost couldn't even see her natural skin color. With a high pitch, natural tone, the girl answered, "Ruby Spritz, sir. Nothing is funny unless you find the hiccups hilarious. Then that's what's so funny."

"You sound snarky. Let me guess. You grew up in a rich area and you dream of joining the Military Police to make yourself have a great appearance with your friends and family. I bet you don't even want to go for legit reasons."

Ruby's smile fell a bit and her light brown eyes searched around her small squad to see if people were ready to mock her. Her eyes found Hics, but the boy wasn't laughing at her like she had laughed at him. If he wasn't going to use the opportunity to mock her, her situation must not be too bad and she could easily turn it back around. The smirk formed back on her face as she spat back at Jean, "I would say wanting power in the highest branch of Military Police is a pretty legit reason."

Jean kneed Ruby in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. He saw so much of his old self in her. Even though circumstances were different now-no one really had to fight titans anymore-it didn't change the fact that assholes continued to try to join the Military Police. It became his personal goal to have her on the right path by the end of the three year training.

Jean addressed the rest of the squad as Ruby tried to stand on her feet again, "If you have the same attitude about the Military Police as Ruby does, drop it now. If you want to join the Military Police, it better be one of these two reasons.

"First, if you truly want to serve the king. Good for you, wasting your talent for such a simple job, but still good for you and your noble ambition. The only way you can achieve that is by placing in the top three physically. You must show great skills in maneuver gear and leadership. Without those two skills, don't expect to even make it into the top three.

"The other reason is much more important though. If you place in the top three academically, you are allowed to join the Military Police, but you will be a part of the research branch. The research branch studies chemicals and formulas in an attempt to create a cure for titans. If you do not fit either of those categories, do not even bother going for the Military Police."

When Carla heard Jean say those words, an idea popped in her mind. The research branch of the Military Police would be a perfect fit for her. She knew she could handle it academically and she loved to study. Carla loved knowing how everything worked and fit together, so researching for the Military Police would be perfect for her. All she had to do was keep up with her studies and she was in. And the best part, one of her best friends would be in the Military Police also. Only thing that would make it better was if she could convince Liz to switch over. After that thought, Carla felt bad. Liz needed to be in the Retainment Corps. That's where she belonged and should be.

"Some of us here want to join the Military Police for one of those reasons, sir!" another girl spoke up across from Ruby. The girl had short, auburn hair and glasses sat on the rim of her nose. She pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose before falling into a salute stance for Jean. "Sofia Amarylis is the name. I want to be the one who finds the cure."

"Anyone else think they're tough shit and can make it into the Military Police?" Jean disregarded Sofia.

Carla found it strange that he would snap at Liz for speaking out of turn, but Sofia could do it. Maybe his patience was running out and didn't feel like addressing another little rebel. Either way, Carla wasn't going to announce her newfound feelings for the Military Police. That would require her to speak up, so she kept her mouth sealed. She would leave speaking out of turn to people like Liz.

"Renzo Guerra, sir!" a bulky, attractive male announced. He was extremely tan with medium brown hair. Carla noticed him staring at her for a brief moment and quickly looked away as her face turned red. Another person that only noticed her because she was a clone of her father. Or so she figured. That could be the only reason in her books. After switching to the salute position for Jean, the boy continued, "I want to work at the Capital and service the king."

Those words spoken reminded Jean of someone he used to know. For a brief moment, Jean felt sadness creep into his soul as he thought of Marco. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long while. In fact, Marco wasn't a thought he hadn't had for a while either. His heart felt heavy, but it wasn't the time for that.

To distract his thoughts, Jean dismissed the recruits to lunch. As the Jaeger girl walked away with her friends, he gripped her shoulder. Carla nervously turned toward him, so he tried his best to not give away his emotions about her father. He told her, "Jaeger is a big name to have around these parts. You better not disappoint."

"Y-Y-Yes, sir," stuttered Carla, not exactly sure what he meant.

She was quick to find out though.

"Wow, are you really Eren Jaeger's daughter?!" a boy named Leon Luff inquired leaning close to her face. Leon was tall, lean, and messy light auburn hair. His bright blue eyes were full of life as he searched her own for answers.

Carla's face was bright red that Leon stood so close to her. He was a stranger that broke her personal bubble. No one had ever been that close to her face, which made her extremely uncomfortable. As if he sensed it, Hics pulled on the back of Leon's shirt and forced him into a seat across from Carla and Liz at the same table. After sitting down next to him, Hics warned Leon, "Dude, just back off. Don't get that close to her or Liz, got it?"

"Eren placed fifth in his squad! That's amazing! Are you going to follow his path into the Scout Regiment?" Leon continued to press for answers. His thin lips were pulled back into a tight smile. "That was back when there were hundreds of people in a training squad at a time! Since there were so many people, they allowed the top ten into the Military Police, but nowadays each training squad barely has fifty people. They changed the top ten to three to accommodate for less people. Do you think your father would have placed in the top three?"

"Uhhh..." Carla had no idea how to answer Leon's questions and comments. She knew absolutely nothing about her father's past. Questions spun around in her own head already. Leon unintentionally answered a question, but that was only the beginning.

"Do you think you can place in the top three if I rip your arm off?" growled Liz, growing annoyed with Leon. More people began to crowd around their table, bothering Liz further. If these people angered her that much, she couldn't imagine being in Carla's position. Her friend was flooded with questions from unnamed squad mates and appeared like she wanted to dash away. _She really isn't like Eren_... Liz thought. Eren would be bragging and living it up in the limelight. Carla, on the other hand, wanted to die.

"Are you a shifter, too?" The subject came from a soft voiced girl. Cecily Rose toyed with her short black hair in her nervousness. It was such a bold question to ask. In fact, even the few people-Sofia, Ruby, and Renzo-that sat away from everyone else became intrigued with the matter.

"That's right! How did I not think to ask that?" Leon chuckled and threw his head back during his laughter. He slapped the table and called himself an idiot. "The shifter race is supposed extinct, but if Eren's alive, clearly not! Are you like him, too?"

"I... I..." Carla covered her ears as more voices kept reaching her. She didn't know what any of their questions meant. How much of the history of the titan war did Eren leave out? The girl thought she was smart, but she was quickly learning how little she knew. Shifter race extinct? What was that supposed to even mean?

Carla felt Liz put a hand on her back and Carla turned her head toward her. Liz smiled at her, letting Carla know that everything would be okay. The support of her friends meant the world to her. She was truly lost and confused, but between Liz standing up for her and Hics shutting Leon down, at least one thing was clear. Her friends were the only truth in her life.

"Hey! Everyone just give her space, okay? She clearly doesn't want to be bombarded right now," a voice suddenly cut through the rest. Renzo pushed his way through the crowd and stood next to the sitting Carla. He placed a hand on her shoulder as if to indicate who he was talking about. "If she wants to talk, she'll talk. Got it?"

"Pffff, if she can't handle the attention, she should have never left the house!" Ruby called from a few tables over. The girl rolled her eyes when she received a few glares. "Eren Jaeger is the most famous name in this world. You expect to go unnoticed with a name like Jaeger?"

"Don't act like a bitch just because the attention isn't on you," Sofia shot at the small girl.

"Hey, hey now!" Renzo rose his voice again. All eyes were on him. "We have to see each other every day for the next three years. Let's not start off on a bad note, alright? Everybody go back to your original tables. Again, we have the next three years to get to know each other. Don't rush it into one night."

Everyone listened and began to disperse back to their tables as instructed. Carla gripped Renzo's sleeve before he could walk away and told him, "You... You stay. And Cecily, you stay, too."

The girl seemed surprised that Carla asked her to stay and pointed at herself to make sure that Carla meant her. When Carla nodded, Cecily awkwardly sat next to Hics. Cecily didn't know anyone, so she was shocked that someone like Carla would ask her to stay. She didn't want to appear star-struck, but a certain someone else did not hide his infatuation.

"I can stay, right? Right, sweetheart?" Leon exclaimed in excitement when he wasn't sent away with the others. The boy latched onto Carla's hands and leaned over the table close to her face again. Hics punched him so hard in the side Leon was sent to the floor. He held his side and coughed a few times before stating, "Okay, okay. I'll move."

After Leon moved over to Sofia and Ruby's table, Renzo sighed, "I'm sorry people act like that toward you. It must be annoying growing up with that constantly."

"Actually," Carla started. She held eye contact with Liz as she tried to decide whether or not to speak the truth. Liz shrugged, letting her know that it was up to her whether to speak or not. If it bothered her so much that Eren would lie her entire life, it wouldn't make her a better person if lying to Renzo and Cecily. Deciding to continue on, she said, "I never knew the truth about my dad. I didn't know about his military background. And I sure as heck don't know what a 'shifter' is. I feel like the whole world knows more about the man I grew up with than I do."

"Well shit." That was all Renzo could say to that.

"And I was hoping maybe you could explain a few things to me, Cecily." Carla locked onto Cecily's almost black eyes. She could still hear the gasps and the faces people made when Cecily asked about her being a shifter. That must be a pretty big deal. "What is a 'shifter' and why did everyone react that way?"

"Carla, maybe you shouldn't as-" Liz tried to reason with Carla. If Eren kept it a secret from her, maybe it was best left a secret. She grew up around the man, seeing him almost every day, so she viewed Eren as a second father figure. He was usually straightforward with everyone, so Liz trusted his decision to not tell Carla.

"I asked because the titan shifters are all supposed to be dead. I was surprised to hear Eren is alive," admitted Cecily, interrupting Liz. She shrugged as she spoke.

Renzo let out a bellow of laughter. He even leaned back as he chuckled and almost fell out of his seat. When everyone stared at him like he was crazy, he calmed down his fit. Taking a deep breath, Renzo pointed at Carla and mentioned, "Obviously not. Carla's living proof that that's not true. I know Eren is crazy, but I don't think he's crazy enough to turn his own daughter into a titan shifter."

"Crazy?" Carla repeated the word as if it were new to her. She would call Eren a liar and a jerk, but crazy didn't quite fit. Crazy must belong to information she had yet to hear about him. Her eyes looked down as she wondered what Eren did to deserve the term crazy.

"I wouldn't call him that... Crazy describes the laughing maniac here," muttered Hics, low enough that Carla didn't catch his words. He held eye contact with Renzo, who already bothered him. Hics leaned his head onto his right hand and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Got something to say, princess?" Renzo addressed Hics.

"I don't like..." Hics started to tell Renzo how he already didn't like him, but he never was able to say it. Renzo made a rude comment about Eren around Carla, which bothered Hics. It was insensitive and he did not like it when someone upset his friends. The boy was ready to tell Renzo how he felt, but a glance from Carla was all it took for him to shut his mouth. He shrugged and let out another sigh.

"Can someone just give me a straight answer about what a titan shifter is?" interrupted Carla, trying to keep the tension down. She shook her head at Hics, who surprised her by acting the way he was. He normally wasn't so critical of people; in fact, Hics always gave new people a chance. It was a trait of his she wish she had. But that wasn't how he was acting in the moment. Carla couldn't imagine what could cause him to treat someone like that.

"A titan shifter is someone that can go back and forth between a human form and a titan form," Sofia was quick to jump on the answer. Everyone at the table shuttered at the girl's sudden appearance. Her eyes glossed over as her passion for the topic came forth. "Eren used his amazing ability to fight on the side of humans. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be able to live the way we do now. We wouldn't be close to finding a cure without him either. When he disappeared, it was a major blow to research, but now that he's apparently alive and well, maybe..."

_Go back and forth between a human form and a titan form_ repeated in Carla's mind. Was that even possible? Her eyes searched her friends, new and old, but she was the only one that seemed shocked. Embarrassment spread through her. Titan shifting was common knowledge and she never heard of it. Another subject Eren avoided with his daughter.

"You're the girl that wants to join the research branch of the Military Police, right? Sofia?" Liz clarified. She was terrible with remembering facts about people, even if it was something simple. After all the years she spent constantly hanging out with Hics, she often forgot his real name was Tyler.

"I... I would like the join the research branch, also," Carla suddenly announced.

A glare fell over Sofia's glasses as she leaned forward and close to Carla. No one in the 117 training corps seemed to know what personal space was. Carla leaned back a bit as a smile sluggish smile crept onto Sofia's face. The girl practically squealed, "_Jaeger _wants to join the research branch! There's no way Eren wouldn't offer his body to science if his daughter was involved!"

Renzo pulled Sofia away from Carla and placed her at a reasonable distance. He shivered as if a spider crawled all around his skin as he admitted, "Please don't ever use the phrase 'offer his body to science' ever again. Brought up weird probing images in my mind."

"What do you plan on researching exactly? You seem pretty confident that the cure will be found," wondered Cecily. The girl immediately regretted the question when Sofia snapped her head towards her. Cecily could swear she didn't even spot movement and Sofia suddenly had her hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, girl... Let me tell you my ideas."

After about twenty minutes of listening to Sofia ramble about scientific nonsense that made no sense to him, Hics was the first to leave. Everyone but Cecily followed suit and made a swift exit to the sleeping quarters. When Liz and Carla broke away, Renzo used it as an opportunity to speak to Hics in the men's bunking area.

"So... How long have you been with Carla?" Renzo questioned the smaller boy, who already sat down on his bunk.

"W-What? We're no-" Another hiccup. Hics placed his face in his hands to hide his face in embarrassment for multiple reasons. His voice was muffled by his hands as he continued his answer. "We're not together. Just best friends."

"I saw the way you reacted when Leon kept getting close. You sure it's just best friends on both ends? So... You wouldn't be upset if I _pursued _her?"

Hics jolted his head up at Renzo's questions. His mouth fell slightly open at Renzo's bold questions, but he shut it and sadly turned away. The thought of Renzo flirting with someone Hics cared so much about really bothered him. Yeah, Hics did have feelings for Carla, but he wasn't ever going to do anything about it. Their friendship meant too much to him to risk it. Images of Renzo with Carla flashed through his mind, causing Hics to ball up his fists.

In the end, it didn't matter what he thought. It all mattered what Carla thought. If a guy like Renzo made her happy, Hics wasn't going to stop it from happening. He wouldn't take away her happiness. After a lot of debating with himself, a voice that did not sound like his own spoke words he would regret later and could not take back, "No, go for it."

"Thanks, man. Glad for the approval. The three of us will make great Military Police partners!" Renzo gave Hics a few hard pats on the back.

"Yeah... Okay."

_What have I done?_

"I feel kind of bad for leaving Cecily back there alone to listen to the crazy. Knock some social sense into me if I ever turn out that way," laughed Carla as she fell back onto her new bed. It was nowhere near as comfortable as her bed back home. She didn't realize how much her father spoiled her until that moment.

All the girls lived in one bunking area. Carla was lucky to have Liz has her bunking buddy, but that didn't take away that fifteen to twenty more girls would be living in the room with them. They were the only two in the bunks at the moment, but the room would be filled to the brim with sweaty, girly girls soon enough. She missed having a room to herself back at home. It was a problem Carla would have to get over.

Liz hung upside down from the bunk above, so her eyes could see Carla. She imitated Sofia's smirk and did her best impression when she stated, "Offer your body to science!"

"Renzo's right. Weird probing images." Carla shuttered but a slight smile appeared. Her mind wondered elsewhere for a moment.

"Ohhhhhhhhh! I see that smile. He's super attractive, girl. Good choice," Liz teased her friend. When Carla blushed, Liz knew she hit the spot.

"No, no. I'm here to study. Don't have time for that," Carla was quick to correct her friend. She crinkled her nose as she changed her thoughts over to all of the studying she would have to do. "I need to make top three in academics to be invited to the research branch."

Liz flipped off of her bunk and sat on Carla's mattress. The blood had rushed to her head and she knew she would pass out if she stayed like that too much longer. Her mouth changed to a goofy smile as she stared up at the ceiling and imagined a scenario. "I can't wait to see you and Hics in that Military Police uniform. I'm already so proud of you both."

"We haven't made it yet! And more importantly, you'll be in that Retainment Corps uniform. You'll be doing more honorable work than us. You'll have the privilege of watching over everyone's loved ones inside the walls. I can't imagine being a mindless titan walking around inside the walls."

After she finished her last sentence, she felt like it might be an insensitive comment, but Liz didn't appear to take it to heart. She ignored that sentence altogether. "Thanks, Carla. Let's promise to always stay friends. Even after you and Hics leave for the Capital! Until then, we stay at each other's sides. For better or for worse."

"Whoa, you make it sound like we're married," joked Carla, who was rewarded with a playful shove from Liz. Carla pushed back as her laughter died down. "Seriously though. I promise."

"To the next three years!" Liz exclaimed.

The two friends fist bumped.


	3. Episode 3: It's All Fun and Games

Episode 3

"I can't believe you had me study with you this entire weekend. The one weekend we get off this month and this is how we spend it!" whined Liz as she fell back into the grass. She placed a hand over her eyes to block the sunlight. Studying didn't truly bother her, but she did enjoy picking on Carla for her work habits. The girl never seemed to stop working. A smile crossed Liz's face before she continued to mess with Carla. "Two years of constant study. _I'm_ going to end up placing in the top three in academics at this rate!"

"Everyone knows you need the study!" Carla poked back. Her friend glared at Carla after the retort, obviously bothered. Liz's eyes narrowed at Carla, daring her to say more about her test scores. Laughing, Carla turned a page in her book and continued to look over it. "You know I'm just kidding. You're not the _worst _at testing. I believe that award goes to Leon."

"Truth. If he wasn't so focused on flirting with anything with boobs, maybe he'd test better," Liz added on. She stretched while still on the ground, allowing her back to pop. A sigh escaped her after straightening her back. The sunlight tingled her pale skin the longer the friends sat outside. "C'mon, Carls. Let's do something. We've trained everyday for the past two years. Studied for _two years_. I'm dying here. Let's swim or something! The lake is right there!"

Liz pointed toward the lake, which was surrounded by tall trees and in eyesight in front of them. The lake wasn't that massive, but any body of water appeared small after living by the ocean for twelve years. Two years they had lived by the lake and the duo swam in it maybe twice. Liz hopped up and tugged on Carla's hand. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she begged, "_Caaaaaaaaaaaaarla!_"

"Go on without me. I'm fine here," responded Carla, not taking her eyes off of her book. She knew if she even glanced at Liz she would give in. Liz groaned and threw her arms in the air, a sign of giving up. Carla smiled and apologized, "Sorry, just go. Have fun. Tell me about it later."

"Fine..." pouted Liz as she crossed her arms. The girl slipped her shirt and pants off to reveal she was already dressed to swim. Liz rocked a slick, blue two piece swim suit that showed off her toned stomach. She threw her clothes onto Carla's book and stated, with hands on her hips, "If you're gonna be a stick in the mud, at least watch my clothes or put them in your backpack. I'm off to hang out with the other trainees."

Carla neatly folded Liz's clothes and slipped the clothes into her backpack as her friend suggested. She watched Liz sprint at full speed toward the lake. Liz was waving when she approached, so Carla began to wonder who all was down at the lake on their day off. Shaking her head, she turned her head back to her book.

A yellow leaf from a nearby tree dropped onto her book. She picked it up and held it in the air as her mind raced. The autumn season never failed to make her think of Eren. Even though the father and daughter lived on the beach, one time Eren had taken them out to see the colorful trees in a woodsy town near the walls. Carla smiled as she recalled the fond memory.

_"Look, Daddy! The leaves are red and yellow!" a six-year-old Carla called out and pointed toward the tall trees. She sat upon Eren's shoulders and tapped on his head so he'd pay attention to where she pointed. His hood was up, so she didn't actually touch his head. He felt her touch, though, and stared up at the trees._

_ "So the rumors I heard were true. Leaves really do change color depending on the season..." Eren spoke his thoughts out loud. His lips stretched into a giant grin as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He held out one hand and caught a falling, yellow leaf. Eren handed it up to Carla, who was beginning to become restless. Chuckling, he asked her, "Do you want down?"_

_ "Yes, please!" she answered him as she took the yellow leaf from him. Carla could spy other kids in the distance playing in a pile of leaves and she wanted to join in. When Eren put her down, she immediately plopped into the nearest pile of leaves. The leaves flew up into the air when Carla jumped in. She sunk straight in, seeing nothing but darkness. The pile was huge! The small girl wondered if her father could see her in the pile of leaves. Wanting to play a game with him, she stayed hidden in the leaves._

_ "Where'd she go?" Eren played along and pretended to look for her. When he was close enough to leaf pile, he scooped his daughter up and held her tight in his arms. Carla hugged his neck and snuggled close to him._

_ "You found me!" Carla giggled and placed her forehead against his. She didn't like that she couldn't see all of his face because his hood was up, so she pushed it off of his head. Eren's green eyes frantically searched around for a moment before he pulled it back up. Carla told him, "I don't like it when your hood is up. Keep it down, Daddy."_

_ "Naaaaah, it's a bit chilly out. It keeps my neck warm," he had told her._

Staring at the yellow leaf in her hand, the realization hit her. She murmured aloud, "No, it kept your identity secret..."

Carla dropped the leaf and her book as someone suddenly picked her up. The mysterious person threw her over their shoulder as they also picked up her backpack. It was easy to figure out that the person was a male because they were shirtless and only had on swimming trunks. She glanced over her shoulders and recognized the neat, brown hair. Carla demanded, as he began to run toward the lake, "Renzo! Put me down!"

"No way, Carla. Everyone is at the lake today. I'm not going to let you waste today!" he called as he picked up speed toward the lake. Carla banged her fist on Renzo's back, but the boy was unshaken by it. Giving up, she let herself dangle. Laughing, Renzo told her, "That's the spirit! Training corps swimming party!"

"You made me drop my book..." grumbled Carla.

When they reached the lake, Renzo tossed Carla into the lake. The chill of the water was an absolute shock. She shrieked as she sunk into the lake water fully clothed. Carla stood straight up the moment her bottom hit the lake floor. The water came up to her stomach, causing her to feel really short when she saw the water was at everyone else's hips. The girl wrapped her arms around her when the wind picked up.

"How can you all stand this? The water is freezing!" demanded Carla, who's teeth were chattering. Everyone was dressed for swimming but her. If she was that cold dressed as she was, she couldn't imagine how everyone else felt. She wrapped her arms around herself tighter as she remembered she was sporting a white button-up top.

"Woman up!" Liz slapped Carla's back, almost knocking Carla back over into the water. She noticed Carla appeared miserable, but she wanted her friend to lighten up. "It's not that bad!"

"Rich brat is used to her perfect ocean," huffed Ruby, who sat in the grass. The water only touched her feet. Her pigtails were soaked, so she recently had stepped out of the lake. A towel wrapped around her body to keep her warm and dry her off. "I'd rather swim in this icy water than read a dumb book all day alone."

"Ignore her," Leon spoke up, his head suddenly popping out of the water. All Carla could see of him was his head. He was also incredibly close to Carla for comfort. His nose almost touched her stomach. "Most of us come from the city, so we never swam growing up. I never saw beautiful women swimming in such fabulous outfits until I came he-"

Hics suddenly jumped on top of Leon, forcing him to be completely submerged in the water. Carla stepped back right before the impact and water splashed up in her face at Hics's action. Her mouth hung open, thinking that Hics possibly harmed Leon, but Leon stood up a few feet away unharmed. He held his hand on his head, but Hics only told him, with humor in his tone, "Go talk about women elsewhere. I hear Cecily is looking for you."

"_Ceeeeeeeeecily_," sang Leon as he glanced around for the girl and walked away to find her.

Renzo placed a hand on Hics's shoulder as he finally stepped into the lake himself. His eyebrow was raised in suspicion. Once Leon was out of earshot, he asked the smaller boy, "Cecily's not looking for him, is she?"

"Of course not. She's not even at the lake," admitted Hics as he shrugged like it was not big deal. Over the past two years, Hics had grown to tolerate Renzo. He was still Hics's least favorite person in their training corps. Hics would rather hang out with Ruby than Renzo, but because he and Carla were close friends, they had to put up with each other.

"Ha, at least you've got your wit going for you," Renzo teased the smaller boy and rubbed Hics's black-brown hair. Hics tried to step away, but Renzo kept his hand with him. Even though they tolerated each other, they still had a rivalry going on. Both wanted to place top three in their class so they could join the Military Police. Renzo refused to lose to someone that he could easily out do in any situation. He enjoyed any opportunity to mess with Hics, which was all in good fun, especially in front of Carla.

"Renzo," warned Liz. She nodded at Hics, who was clearly embarrassed. Liz let out a long at the older boy and shook her head. Even though she knew Renzo was only joking, she knew Hics wouldn't take it that way. He was a self-conscious person, so something as simple as that could hurt him. Renzo did it often, so she wondered if he enjoyed having someone to pick on.

Hics's face grew red at Renzo's judgment. When Renzo finished rubbing his head, Hics pushed his wet, medium length hair back and out of his face. Renzo rolled his eyes as he saw Hics took his words to heart. The bigger boy told him, "Oh, chill out. I'm just playing."

Carla didn't hear any of the previous moment, for she had made her way out of the lake. She made it next to Ruby and Sofia before sitting down. Ruby appeared so warm wrapped up in the towel. Sofia laid on her stomach, tanning in the sunlight. At that point, Carla wanted to join Sofia in the sun, but she hadn't brought a change of clothes. Even though Renzo had been playing with her, which she found sweet, she had no choice but to stay in her wet clothes.

"Can I..." Carla's voice cut off when Ruby's eyes cut through her. The answer was already going to be no. She shouldn't have even bothered asking Ruby. The girl only thought of herself and would never let Carla borrow her towel.

"No way, beach scum," Ruby snapped at her. She tightened her towel around her body. Her nose was held high as she turned her face away from Carla. Her voice was filled with sarcasm as she spoke. "I'm surprised someone from such a high class would even ask city folk like me. What a freaking honor."

For a split moment, Carla could feel her father in her soul. She wanted to yell at her for her attitude and ideals. It wasn't a secret that Ruby wanted to join the Military Police to live the easy life. She used to lie and say it was because she wanted high power, but as time went on, she let everyone know the truth. Carla couldn't stand Ruby when people like Renzo and Hics wanted to join because they actually cared. Or people like Sofia, who wanted to join because she wanted to help find a cure to turn titans back into people.

She balled up her fist as she tried to find what words needed to be said. Carla wasn't quick with words like Eren. Standing up to others absolutely terrified her, also. Even though she could go on and on about how much Ruby annoyed her to Liz, Carla could never say it to Ruby's face. Instead of spreading her hatred, Carla chose to walk away.

A towel suddenly landed on her head, causing Carla to gasp. Hics stood beside her and gave her his typical cheesy smile. She smiled back and wrapped his towel around her as they walked back to camp together. He even picked up her book for her when they passed it on the way.

"I'm sorry for everything back there. You didn't deserve any of that," he told her as he brushed the dirt off of her book. Hics had so much he wanted to say to her, but didn't know how to say it, let alone if it was appropriate to say it in the moment. He just hated more than anything to see her upset. The boy added on, "Renzo should have just let you study."

Carla felt her heart flutter at the mention of his name. She was sure her face burned bright red, so she swiftly rubbed the towel on her face and pretended to dry off her face. As much as she didn't want to focus on her feelings, she couldn't deny her attraction to Renzo. Maybe it would be a feeling she would chase after once they all graduated, but for the time being, studying held her attention. Her voice was muffled as she answered him, "He didn't know. He was just trying to have some fun."

"Anyway," Hics was fast to change the topic. He playfully elbowed Carla as he spoke. "Is Team Carla going to win the capture the flag mission tomorrow? Or will Team Liz?"

Carla had forgotten all about the big team mission. Jean had assigned everyone to a team then randomly picked team captains. She felt like it wasn't _too _random if he had chosen to put Liz and Carla against each other as captains. Liz's team consisted of Hics, Renzo, and Sofia. The other team was Carla, Leon, Ruby, and Cecily.

Carla ended up groaning a response. Hics snickered at her answer, knowing why she was bothered. Each person was put on a certain team to test their weakness. Carla was purposely put on a team with no one she was terribly close to. Leon would struggle with so many girls on his team. Ruby's weakness would be not being the leader of the team. Cecily was independent and would have to rely on her teammates for the mission.

On Liz's team end, Hics and Renzo had a rivalry. That was going to the team's biggest issue. Sofia's craziness would another issue. She would have actually listen to Liz's orders instead of following her own leads. Liz would somehow have to find the patience inside of her to deal with the rivalry and Sofia the wildcard.

To top it all off, both teams had the rest of their squad mates on it. Carla barely knew some of her squad mates after two years, let alone all of them. How could she command people that didn't even know her?

"Hello? Anyone home?" Hics waved his hand in front of Carla's face, causing her to jump in surprise. He smirked after startling her, but didn't mention it. Being bruised by Carla was not on his to-do list. Instead he admitted, "I'm rooting for Team Carla."

"Shouldn't you be cheering for your own team? If I recall, you're on Liz's team." Carla jokingly pushed Hics before holding onto the towel again. She beamed from ear to ear at the thought of his support. The girl was thankful for having such a strong friendship with Hics.

"So? Just because I'm rooting for you doesn't mean I'm going to make it any easier for you! _I'm _going to be the one to take your flag over the border!" Hics huffed up his chest and exclaimed those words with much bravado. When Carla shoved him again, Hics chuckled and walked normally again.

The two reached the girls' bunking cabin and Hics held the door open for her. She thanked him and nodded before walking in alone. The last thing she heard him say before the door shut was again encouraging and made her happy.

"Good luck, Carls. My bet is on you."

_Show me what you're made of, Jaeger. Show me that you're worth my time._

Jean's words rung in her head as her team formed in a tight circle around her. The only faces she recognized were Leon, Cecily, and Ruby. She could swear that she had never seen the other six people in the squad before. Maybe it was her anti-social habits that made these people a mystery or maybe they were faded in the background. That was often how she felt in crowds, so maybe they viewed her the same way. _Probably not_, she reminded herself. Her own name was her curse from ever being able to blend into the background.

"I stabbed the flag pole deep into the ground like you requested, madam," Leon told her in between breaths. He sounded like he ran a mile. Actually, he might have. The boy was putting on his maneuver gear as he spoke. Carla wanted to face palm at the boy's stupidity, but it wasn't the time to worry about his choices. She had to stay focused on the group.

"Where'd you put it exactly?" questioned Cecily. She, along with everyone else on the team, was shuffling to put her maneuver gear on. They had about sixty seconds before Jean fired the green flare, announcing that the teams could cross the border into enemy, Liz's, territory.

"Don't you listen? You're a moron," spat Ruby, who already put her gear on. She leaned against a thick tree and crossed her arms. Her eyes were shut, as if to say Cecily wasn't even worth looking at in that moment. "Jean assigned the borders where the lake is the center of both territories. Carla said the best option was to put the flag on the edge of the lakebed that was guarded by trees. No one would be coming through the lake, so we only have one side to worry about. With only one side to worry about, we don't have to have as many defenders and can put more people on the offensive. I can almost say it's brilliant... If everyone couldn't see where the freaking flag is from across the lake!"

"Too late to worry about that now. What's the plan?" Leon waited for Carla's instructions.

"There's ten of us in total. I say four of us stay to guard the flag while the rest of us split into two teams. Ground team and maneuver team," Carla started. Everyone leaned in closer, except for Ruby, and listened with interest. Nervousness welled up in her stomach when she realized how much her team relied on her for the mission. For a moment she couldn't speak. Her palms began to sweat as she searched for words.

_Good luck, Carls. My bet is on you. _Hics's echoed in her head, calming her down. Her best friend believed in her. She reminded herself that Jean also believed in her. He wouldn't have made her a team captain if he thought ill of her. With her eyes shut, she took a long breath to slow her heart rate down. Carla finally found the words to speak again. "Each team will have three people. One of the maneuver team will act as a scout. He or she will locate the flag and bring the news to the maneuver and ground team. From there on, the maneuver team will act as a decoy for the ground team. They will lead the other team's defense away from the flag long enough for one of the ground team to swoop in and take the flag."

"What do you mean by maneuver and ground team?" some guy Carla didn't know asked.

"The maneuver team, obviously, will be using their gear the entire time. Travel by tree. That's what Liz's team will be expecting. The ground team will tr-" A green flare was shot up. They were out of team to talk any longer. Jean gave them such a short time limit to discuss everything, so part of the lesson must be to work under pressure and in limited time. "-avel on foot until the flag is spotted. The ground team will should be the swift and light-footed people so they can stay hidden better."

"We'll be on defensive. Good luck, team!" Leon announced as he pointed at three other people. He, strategically, picked three guys. Carla silently laughed to herself, wondering if Leon picked guys so he wouldn't be distracted. The four soared away using their maneuver gear to protect the flag. Carla nodded encouragement to Leon before he was out of view.

"Ruby, I trust you to lead the maneuver team. Cecily, I want you to be the scout, okay?" Carla commanded her offensive team. Cecily nodded while Ruby huffed in agreement. Ruby grabbed another girl by the sleeve and demanded that she be on the maneuver team. "That leaves the rest of us on the ground team. We'll station ourselves by the giant tree on our territory. You three know which one I'm speaking of?"

"Of course we do! We're not idiots!" With that said, Ruby flew off toward Liz's territory. The other girl followed behind the maneuver team leader.

"Cecily, when you find the flag, come find us at the tree, okay?" Carla asked of the shy girl while holding her hands. Cecily's eyes darted around as if to find the courage to do what her leader asked of her. Adding on a bit of encouragement, Carla told her, "I think you can do it. You're the swiftest on maneuver gear that I've seen. Just keep calm and you can do it."

"I'm not worried about that. Ruby doesn't have very good intuition. Should she really be le-"

"I believe in her too. Ruby is smart when it comes to battle. Just trust in her and it will be okay."

Cecily nodded and left to catch up with the other two girls.

Liz could spy Carla's flag from across the lake. She couldn't believe Carla would place it in such an easy spot for Liz's team to grab! Scratching the back of her head, Liz sighed, "This is going to be a lot easier than expected. It's in plain view!"

Jean's green flare could be seen in the air. The game had begun.

"Think about it for a moment, Liz. Use your head," informed Hics as Liz readied the team to head that direction. He placed a hand on Liz's shoulder to stop her from moving further. His friend had a few inches on him, but Hics was still able to hold her back. "We can't use our gear to cross the lake. That means we have to circle the border of the lake to even come close to the flag. That was the smartest place to put it. We'll easily be caught if we're not super careful."

"Look at you being all smart and stuff. Proud of you," Liz laughed, being half serious and half joking at the same time. She gave Hics a hard pat on the back, hard enough to knock the breath out of him and almost knock him over.

"If the spot is so easy to guard, she probably doesn't have that many guards covering it. Maybe three people at most are guarding that flag," Renzo added onto Hics's statements. He wouldn't let Hics prove to be better in academics. Renzo wanted to beat Hics all around, so Hics couldn't have all the glory in figuring out Carla's plan. Continuing his thoughts, Renzo said, "So it would be wise to have like two people on defense while the rest of us split in two different directions around the lake. Their defense won't be expecting so many people at once."

"We should just attack until we get the flag!" Sofia practically screamed on the top of her lungs. A hysterical laugh could be heard as Sofia shot off in one direction. Liz stared after the girl in horror.

"Ugh, I'll follow her. Make sure she doesn't get caught..." grumbled Hics as he volunteered to babysit the crazy girl. He hoped it wouldn't affect his personal game too much, but he knew being her babysitter would be his suicide in the game. Once Sofia or himself was tagged, they were out of the game into someone brought a flag into their team's territory. As he soared after her, he wondered how much longer he would last in the game.

Liz demanded two others to follow after Hics and Sofia. She handpicked who she wanted with her before she addressed Renzo. "I need you to stand guard here. There's only two of you here, but I think you both can handle it as long as you don't run after the first noise you hear. Can I trust you?"

"Always."

Renzo and the guy that stayed behind with him saluted their leader as Liz left.

It felt like thirty minutes since Ruby's squad had left. She felt her stomach tighten up at the thought that Ruby's squad had be caught. Carla signaled for her team to stay behind as she went to investigate in enemy territory. The girl called over her shoulders as she ran over the border, "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, return to the flag and tell Leon the rest of us have been caught. He'll have a plan of attack against Liz."

When she had run out of ear shot, Carla mumbled, "_Maybe_."

Carla made sure to dart as swift as she could in between trees and bushes. Thorns and branches caught onto her skin and uniform, cutting away at both. She ignored the bleeding scratches, for that could easily be fixed later. The dignity of her team if they lost, on the other hand, could not be fixed, so she kept trudging deeper into Liz's territory.

The woods was eerily silent other than Carla's heavy breathing. She wondered where Liz's squad mates were, but she reminded herself how much time had passed since Jean shot off his flare. Liz could be just as deep into Carla's territory as Carla was in Liz's. Carla became annoyed at the thought of the past thirty minutes wasted on Ruby's squad to pull through for the team. So much trust was put in them only for nothing to be returned. Maybe Carla should have done it herself from the beginning. The girl pushed the selfish thought out of her mind.

It was a team effort. The point of capture the flag was to test leadership skills, cooperation, team work, and wittiness in battle. Jean and other officers were stationed all around the woods watching their every move. Surely, Carla had many point deducted based off the failure of her plan. Shaking her head to rid it of the negative thoughts, she thought about how she would score high in wittiness. The plan would have been very successful if she had put better people into each squad...

"Hello, sweetheart."

Carla skidded to a halt in front of Renzo, who was hanging upside down from a branch. She couldn't believe she had been running absentmindedly. The girl waited for Renzo to tag her and claim her as out of the game, but the boy never did. Instead, he placed a yellow flower into her hair and gave her a sideways smile as he did so.

"A-A-Aren't going to tag me?" she asked, her heart rate racing. At first, she believed it to be the rush of the game and her sudden surprise that Renzo had found her. The longer she looked at Renzo's face, the more she felt and knew it was because she was in his presense. He made her so nervous and it drove her crazy.

"No, but I did find that flower while I was guarding the flag. It looks pretty on you," he told her, still hanging upside down. Renzo placed a hand on her cheek and rubbed his thumb in a circular motion. "Not that you needed it to be pretty. You already got that covered."

Her face flushed bright red as she backed away from his touch. Not that she didn't enjoy it, but she wasn't in training for romance. All she wanted for the time being was to graduate in the top three academically. Winning capture the flag would help up her scores and make her one step closer to her main goal. Not wanting to leave him completely hanging, she admitted to him, "I appreciate the compliments, but... Can this wait until after graduation? I just..."

"Yes, of course. You're worth waiting for," he was quick to tell her. The answer already seemed thought out, as if he expected her to say something like that. Renzo smirked seconds later and laughed, "But you know I can't let you go, right? Either you can stay here with me or I have to tag you out. Your choice."

"I can't give up on my team. I have to try for the flag."

"YAHOOOOOOOO!" a sudden call pierced through the air.

"Damn it!" Carla let slip out under her breath as Sofia whisked by her with a flag in hand.

Sofia landed not too far off into the distance and was soon surrounded by team mates. They all patted her on the back in congratulations. Renzo even patted the trainee logo on the back of her jacket in celebration.

"Tough luck, huh?" Hics laughed as he and Liz landed next to Carla, who was on her knees in defeat. He offered her a hand to help her up. "Who would have thought Sofia was so fast. No one guarding your flag was ready for how many of us stormed you at once. All but few of us were tagged out though. Your team put up a good fight."

"We could have easily won... Easily..." Carla repeated over and over again, still not believing that her team lost. Her plan would have worked perfectly, but something went wrong on Ruby's end. Carla balled her hands into fists as her anger grew.

"Help! Somebody!" a voice called.

"What? What's going on?" Liz consoled the girl, who was crying her eyes out. Liz held the girl steady as she shook from crying so hard.

Carla recognized the girl. It was the only person on Ruby's squad that she didn't know. Her anger at Ruby's squad morphed into shock and fear when she saw how shaken the girl was. She couldn't move as she went through possibilities in her mind of what happened.

"It's... It's Cecily! Please hurry! Get help!"


	4. Episode 4: Shattered

Episode 4

Carla gripped her spoon tightly when she realized that placements would soon be put up. She was so nervous that she could not sleep the night before. Breakfast was served early as it was, but Carla arrived for breakfast the moment the cafeteria doors opened. A bowl of untouched oatmeal sat in front of her for two hours before she actually became hungry.

"You need to take a chill pill. Everyone knows you'll at least place in the top three academically. You studied harder than anyone here," Liz tried to cheer her friend up while taking a bite of toast. She watched Carla stab her oatmeal with the spoon over and over again without eating one bite. Her stomach turned over at the thought of oatmeal. No breakfast food was worse than oatmeal. "Can you please eat it or something? You're stabbing it like it's an abnormal titan or something."

Their titan training skills only consisted of killing one type of titan: abnormals. It had become taboo to kill titans. Killing a titan killed the human trapped inside. The Scout Regiment was still around to find the few titans that were still roaming around and lead them inside the walls for the Retainment Corps to watch over. It wasn't always so easy though. Abnormal titans could run, jump, and crawl faster than the average titan. Even with the world's new morals in place, an abnormal titan would kill many before the Scouts could bring it to the wall. So titan training turned into learning various ways to kill an abnormal. Losing one abnormal life was worth saving the many that would die trying to save it.

"That's not funny," huffed Carla as she let go of her spoon. It clanked loudly against the bowl as Carla sighed and leaned her cheek against her hand.

Hics flung the doors to the cafeteria open and let out a few heavy breathes. His hair went every direction, a clear indication the boy had just woken up. In fact, he wore his shirt backwards. He placed a hand on the wall, leaning his weight on it, and took a moment to catch his breath.

"What a dummy," Liz giggled under her breath as all eyes shifted to the disheveled Hics.

"Did they put up the r-" A hiccup interrupted his sentence. He slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, but continued to speak as if it didn't happen. "-ankings yet? Did I miss it?"

"No, but you have missed breakfast. They stopped serving food about four minutes ago. Tough break," Renzo, who sat next to Carla, called out to him. He continued to eat toast as he answered Hics. The bigger boy was beginning to wonder if Hics was going to show up to breakfast out of fear of the rankings. Renzo was nervous about the results, but he was confident enough to know he placed in the top three. If he didn't beat Hics, he would still be happy. Beating Hics, though, would make ranking in the top three that much sweeter.

"You oversleep, you don't get a peep! They had tons of selections today! I ate enough for four people!" Sofia announced from beside Liz. She leaned back in her chair and patted her belly to indicate where all the food was inside of her. The girl leaned a bit too far back and fell into the floor.

"You okay, honey? Do you need help getting up?" gasped Leon from the other side of Liz. Ruby, who was on the other end of Leon, appeared ready to slug him, but restrained. She sat in her place as still as possible and Carla could practically see steam floating from her head. The red head was that annoyed with the boy already, but she allowed Leon to help Sofia up.

"Man," Hics grumbled after sitting down next to Carla. His hands flew to his stomach as it made a sound that sounded a lot like speech. He overdramatically flung his head back and complained, "It's trying to speak to me! Can't they serve food again long enough for me to get a bowl? Can anything else go wrong today?"

His eyes flung open when a spoon had been forced into his mouth. He recognized the flavor of oatmeal. Hics made eye contact with Carla, who gave him a warm smile. The boy relaxed in his seat as she moved her face close to his ear. The oatmeal made its way down his throat in time for her to whisper in his ear, "Your shirt is on backwards."

He somehow managed to choke on the oatmeal after he heard her words. Liz scooted her cup of water toward him as his choking fit continued. Hics took a sip from it to help the food go down. Slamming his hands on the table, he stared at Carla in horror. "Are you _trying _to kill me with oatmeal? Because you're succeeding."

Despite all of her fear and nervousness about the results, Carla found herself giggling at Hics's expense. When he saw the grin on her face, he felt a feeling spread through him that only she knew how to conjure up. His lips formed into a thin smile and his glance softened toward her.

"No, but we can share the oatmeal if you'd like," Carla chuckled. She took the spoon that Renzo wasn't using and handed it to Hics. The boy happily accepted the offer and the two ate out of the bowl together.

Hics could see Renzo watching the two in annoyance. All of them were close to graduation, so it had been three years since Hics gave Renzo permission to pursue Carla. If the situation was flipped and Renzo was the one sharing food with Carla, Renzo would be rubbing it in Hics's face, trying to fuel their rivalry more. If the situation was flipped, Hics would settle for the smile on Carla's face. Instead of sulking, he would be happy with her being happy. Luckily for him, that smile was caused by him. _Hics_ put that smile on her face, so he was going to live in the moment with the girl he cared about.

"Sofia, if you don't place as number one, I'll be really shocked," Liz tried to change the topic, seeing the tension slowly rising between Hics and Renzo. Even though she didn't care about her own rank that much, all of her friends seemed to care. She would never admit it, but during the last few missions Liz attempted to sabotage her own scores and did things wrong on purpose. Liz wanted to make Ruby appear more desirable to Jean. Ruby deserved something to go right in her life after what happened during capture the flag...

"Is there any doubt?" Leon boasted of Sofia for her. Sofia shot him a look, but Leon only shrugged at her. He crossed his arms as he continued to speak. "Sofia is a natural genius. We all have heard her speak. Not once have I seen her study either!"

"I would really appreciate it if you shut the hell up," snapped Sofia at Leon. It was a rare occasion that Sofia became angry, let alone annoyed, but Leon was always quick to send her that direction. She added on, "Why don't you brag about some other girl?"

"Fine. I'll brag about Cecily." Leon's eyes practically filled with stars at the thought of the beautiful girl. Liz, Carla, Sofia, and Ruby were all beautiful ladies, but Cecily took the cake for him. Something about her enticed him strongly. "All she does is study, study, study! I'm proud of her hard work. Top three academics for sure!"

Ruby suddenly stood up while Leon was speaking. Her bangs covered her eyes, not allowing anyone to see the tears forming in her eyes. She slowly picked up her plate and cup and left the table without saying a word.

The red head sat down on a stool next to a bed in the infirmary. She grasped at the hands of Cecily, who was in a deep sleep. A white blanket was pulled up all the way to the girl's stomach. Ruby watched the steady rise and fall of Cecily's chest with each breath the girl took. The girl could see the crookedness of Cecily's legs underneath the blanket.

"It's not fair. It should be me." Ruby's voice was shaky as she spoke to Cecily. She placed her forehead on top of her and Cecily's hands. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought about her mistakes. If she wouldn't have been so stubborn... Things would have turned out different for her friend, if Cecily even considered them to be friends.

"I found it!" Cecily announced as she landed on the branch next to Ruby. Her squad leader leaned against the base of the tree and didn't seem to listen to a word Cecily said. She waved her hand in front of Ruby, finally catching her attention. "Hey, remember? The flag? I found Liz's flag."

"This is so dumb. Carla basically made us the useless squad," Ruby started with agitation in her tone. She raised an eyebrow at Cecily, who was dumbfounded at Ruby's words. The answer was so clear, surely Cecily could figure out why they were placed on the useless squad. Remembering they were on enemy turf, Ruby changed the topic so she wouldn't raise her voice. "You were taking so long that I sent that other chick to look around. Thought it might not take as long if she searched, too."

"That's not what Carla sa-"

"I know that's not what Carla said!" she cut Cecily off. Anger filled her brown eyes as she leaned in close to Cecily. "Now, you listen here. You and I... Carla couldn't find a useful job for us. What other reasons would we be decoys, huh? We're fodder for the other team so she can take all the glory. You know what I say to that? Screw her! You and I will snatch the flags ourselves. You know where it is. All we have to do is go grab it. Now, where's the flag?"

Cecily opened her mouth to retort, but the girl shut her mouth. Ruby was her squad leader and she had to follow her. She considered herself an independent person, but she didn't like standing up and upsetting people. Especially since she considered Ruby a good friend. Even if Ruby didn't see their friendship the way Cecily did, she wanted to respect her friend and squad leader.

The words Ruby said about Carla viewing them as useless... Cecily didn't believe that for one second. Carla trusted both of them and saw a leadership quality in Ruby that Cecily couldn't see. The Jaeger girl was kind and treated them equal to her. It was a kindness that no one else had shown Cecily her entire life. Ruby sometimes could be kind, but not in the way Carla was by putting blind faith into the girls.

She wouldn't voice that to Ruby. The Cecily that everyone knew would back down from the challenge and go along with what Ruby commanded of her. Cecily would tell Ruby where the flag was and fly along with her to grab it. But that wasn't how Cecily went about it. In that moment, Cecily did something that the old Cecily would have never done.

"No," was all she said. Cecily spread her arms out wide and blocked Ruby's path. Ruby couldn't pass her on the branch as long as she stood there. Once Ruby took a step back, Cecily spoke again. "Carla and the rest of the team is trusting us to do our jobs correctly. I will not lose their trust."

"Don't be stupid! Move!" Ruby gave Cecily a shove to scare her. Scare tactics was an easy way for Ruby to gain control of situations, but that was all it was supposed to be. A scare tactic. What happened next would be forever burned into her mind.

Cecily lost balance on the branch and went spiraling backwards. Ruby watched in horror as Cecily smacked branch after branch on the way down. The noise that followed Cecily hitting the ground sent a chill down Ruby's spin. Cecily's legs bent in unnatural directions as she laid still.

"Ce... Cecily?" Ruby unsteadily called out. Using her maneuver gear, Ruby swung to the ground and landed softly next to Cecily. She immediately leaned her ear close to Cecily's mouth. Cecily breathed in a steady rhythm, so she was alive.

Ruby held Cecily's broken body as softly as she could and began to scream for help.

"It should have been me..." Ruby repeated again.

Ruby could recall months ago how the doctor said Cecily would never walk again. Cecily didn't seem too upset, but that was the final crack to break Ruby. The girl would never walk again because of Ruby's selfish ambition. Ruby Spritz, who never cared about anyone but herself, had done the worst act someone like her could do.

The world was cruel with how it worked. Someone as cold-hearted and cruel as Ruby walked the world while the kind-hearted Cecily laid in bed, paralyzed for life. Ruby held Cecily's dreams of the military in her hands during the capture the flag mission and crushed it in seconds with one split decision. Such power shouldn't have been given to evil Ruby. No... All she did was crush the trust and dreams of others.

"No, I'm glad it happened to me of all people."

Ruby snapped her head up, tears flying in all directions at the sudden motion. Cecily had woken up and blinked bright brown eyes at her friend. A smile spread across her face as tears filled her own eyes at the sight of how broken up Ruby was. She squeezed Ruby's hand and continued, "Do you really think I would have fit in at the military? I didn't even know where I wanted to go. At the time, I wouldn't have placed in the top three academically or physically, so the Military Police was out. I probably would have just followed Leon into the Garrison. And you know me, I can't be mean to civilians. They would have pushed _me _around."

She couldn't believe how light-hearted Cecily was being about the entire situation. Cecily should hate her for causing the paralysis. Instead, every visit Ruby made to the infirmary, Cecily managed to make her feel better. It should be the other way around.

"Don't say that. You would have made a fine solider..."

"That makes me feel good that you would think so," sighed Cecily as she stared off at the ceiling. Her smile stretched bigger as she continued to speak her mind. "I only have one choice now, though. Military Police's research branch. If I don't place there, guess I just go home. I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with placing in the top three. That way, I'll at least stay with a lot of you all in the Military Police! Thank you for helping me study!"

"You'll make it! We studied hard for you to make it!" Ruby exclaimed encouragement for her friend. For a moment, she felt happy but after glancing at Cecily's legs, sadness took over again.

"Stop blaming yourself! I don't blame you, so you need to stop. You've changed because of it. At least, you've treated me well. Let everyone see this side of Ruby for me, okay?"

Jean barely had enough time to pin the rankings list on the wall and step out of the way before the entire 117th training corps orbited around the list. He laughed when he saw Carla was out front of all of those people to read the list. The man could imagine Eren when he was her age standing beside her and smirking as he read the list. It made him think of old times, so he pushed the image out of his mind and walked away to let the trainees celebrate or cry at their weakness.

Carla took her time to read the list, so she would not miss a single name under the two categories. It was also difficult to read Jean's writing at first, but she adjusted.

The following are qualified to take the path of the Military Police. The Military Police offers many opportunities with servicing the king or researching sciency stuff for the researchers. If you are in the top three for either category, you may take this path.

King's Branch Candidates(Top Three Physically):

1. Tyler Johnson

2. Sofia Amarylis

3. Renzo Guerra

Research Branch Candidates(Top Three Academically):

1. Sofia Amarylis

2. Carla Jaeger

3. Cecily Rose

Carla wanted to yank the list down and keep it forever. She had done it! Barely, but she didn't care! Graduation was a few days away and then she'd be off to the Capital to help find a cure. The image of her in the Military Police uniform sent goosebumps through her entire body.

Ruby stared at the list. At first she was disappointed and tears filled her eyes, but the tears didn't spill over in sadness. Those tears were happy tears for Cecily. That girl would be off to the Military Police soon. She couldn't wait to tell her friend of her placement.

"YAHOOOOOO!" Sofia cried out and took a couple of laps around the cafeteria in celebration. She flung her arms in every direction as her speed increased. Her voice filled the cafeteria as she sang over and over, "I made it into the research branch! I made it into the king's branch!"

Hics, who stood next to Carla, gasped when he saw his own name in the number one spot. He stood there in shock. _Number one? No way..._ the thought came to mind. Carla practically tackled him as she hugged him tight, breaking his shock and thoughts. She hugged tighter as she exclaimed, even calling him by his real name, "You did it, Tyler! I'm so proud of you!"

"You both did it! My besties are in the Military Police!" Liz grabbed both of them, pulling them out of the crowd. She gave both an individual hug. The two had worked so hard, so she couldn't think of a better way to celebrate. In a low tone, she suggested, "How about we sneak out tonight and chill out by the lake? Soon, I'll be heading the exact opposite direction from the two of you. Let's make what time we have left count, yeah?"

"Of course!" Carla agreed and followed her friend toward the girls' bunking cabin to dress for training that day. It was still hard for her to believe it was early in the morning.

"Hics," a voice called after him as he took a step away. Renzo stood close behind him, so when Hics turned around, his face almost hit Renzo's chest. Either Hics was really short or Renzo was tall. Or both. The bigger teen held out his hand and sighed a hefty, "You win. Not only did you beat me, but you placed number one. Congrats. It was fun."

"Oh, yeah. It was." Hics was unsure how to answer that, but he shook Renzo's hand. With his free hand, Hics scratched the back of his head, which led to fingers catching his messy black-brown hair. He still wasn't sure how he placed number one, but he happily accepted it as fact. A thought suddenly occurred to him and Hics was always quick to speak his mind. "I'm glad this wasn't vicious. I fought harder for what I wanted because of you. Since we're both heading to the Military Police... We don't have to end it. I'll work harder knowing I have you to compete with."

"Fine, I'll agree to that," laughed Renzo. A glint of cockiness filled his eyes as he leaned in closer to Hics and squeezed the boy's hand harder. Hics winced a bit in pain, but didn't pull away. Renzo added on, "Also, there's something else we're still fighting for. That battle isn't going to be as fair though."

He nodded toward Carla's direction. Carla was too far to hear what the boys were talking about. Hics turned back to Renzo and swallowed hard at the thought. Renzo smirked and told him, "Good luck in that one. She told me to wait for her until after graduation. That's in a few days. She'll be mine in a few days."

"Thanks for the reminder." Hics jerked his hand away from Renzo and walked away before he could say something he would regret to Renzo. But more importantly, he left before his heart could break more.

"Is Hics not coming?" Carla asked after her and Liz had waited an hour for him. He was usually the first one to show up to hangouts such as these. It was strange.

"Oh..." Liz spoke up, but not taking her eyes off of the moon. The moon lit up the scenery with a silvery glow. Even Carla and Liz's skin appeared silver under the bright light. She shrugged and told Carla with sternness, "He said something came up and that he'd be staying in for the night. His loss."

"Did he say why?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter." Liz wouldn't tell Carla all that Hics admitted to her. It wasn't her place to say it, but it did pain her to see the boy in such emotional pain. After all of their years of friendship, Hics was the one that always smiled. He must have been holding in his pain for a long time before it finally spilt over.

"He told you and not me?" Carla felt a bit hurt by that. She always felt like her bond with Hics was stronger than Liz and Hics's, but it showed what she knew. Her mind had been buried in a book for the past few years, so she could have missed something along the way. For the first time in years, Carla felt free and relieved. Turning the conversation back into the positive, she laughed, "You get to go off to the wall in a few days! That's so exciting! You'll be reunited with your brother!"

"And you better be the one to find the cure for him. I won't let him be cured if Sofia the Crazy is the one to figure out a cure. Hopefully no one's body will have to be offered to science for that to happen!" Liz chuckled as her voice mocked Sofia.

It had been a while since anyone had mocked Sofia's view on Eren the titan shifter. Hearing it led Carla to think about her father. She pulled her legs close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her head on top. A long sigh sounded before she questioned, "Do you think he'll come to my graduation after all of this time? I was pretty awful to him, wasn't I?"

"Carla, I knew," Liz suddenly said out of nowhere at the mention of Eren. She still didn't look at Carla, but Carla sure stared at her in confusion.

"What do you mean you _knew_?" Her eyes were wide. She wasn't one hundred percent sure what Liz was talking about, but she felt like she could figure it out. All she needed was Liz's confirmation.

"When we first met as kids, you introduced yourself as Carla Jaeger," Liz started. The memory formed in her mind as she recalled it as if it were yesterday. She could never forget the day when she met her best friend. "I may have been young, but even then I knew who Eren Jaeger was. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. A war hero's daughter wanted to be my friend! The first time I stepped in your house and you went into a different room, I asked your dad to sigh my shirt. He stared at me like I was crazy and begged for me not to mention who he was around you. I thought it was a strange request, but I listened. The older we got, the more I felt bad about it, but Eren had become like a father to me so I didn't want to make him upset."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry for never telling you. I felt even worse when you reacted the way you did when you found out the truth. I swore to myself that I'd never tell you I knew." Liz finally turned her head toward Carla. Her tears were a sparkling silver in the moonlight and made beautiful streams as the tears snaked down her face. "But now that after graduation... I may never see you again. I can't live with myself knowing I kept such a big secret from you."

Carla wanted to be angry. She wanted to scream and hate Liz for never telling her, but she didn't have the heart. Liz had been nothing but good to her their entire lives and continued to be good. It pained her that the secret gnawed at Liz in such a way to reduced her to tears. The girl wiped away on trail of water from Liz's face as she told her, "We'll see each other again. Don't cry."

The two friends hugged for a very long time after that. Carla let Liz cry and cry at the thought of them being apart. She held Liz tight as the bigger girl caused tear stains to form on the shoulder of her shirt. The girls walked back to the bunking cabin arm in arm from the lake for the last time.

As Carla climbed into her bunk, her mind wondered. All the talk of her dad made her wonder where Eren ended up after three years. Did he join the Scout Regiment? Did he stay at home? Would he come to graduation? She hoped the last question was a yes. Eren would hopefully be willing to tell her the truth about everything. Carla whispered a thought out loud before falling asleep.

"See you soon, Dad..."


	5. Episode 5: Missions

Episode 5

"What exactly am I even needed for? You have already used me for all that I'm worth," he practically growled after sitting in Erwin Smith's office in silence for what felt like hours. The Commander kept looking him over and over, like he was staring at a ghost. "I get it, alright? But I'm not here to reconnect. I was told I was needed again. It must be a big deal if you hunted me down for the job."

"Eren," warned Armin.

Eren knew his voice was harsh with his senior officer, but he was losing his patience. He already knew partially why he was there. It definitely wasn't for his wit. Even though his was greatly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, he knew he wasn't there for that either. The last time the Scouts needed Eren to fight was when he fought Bertolt again. Titan shifters weren't roaming around anymore, so that only left one option.

"Armin, I know when I'm being used for the Coordinate power. Don't act like I'm here for any other reason."

"You have no reason to be the bitter one right now, Jaeger," Erwin suddenly stated in a calm tone. Eren narrowed his eyes at Erwin, but shut his mouth. After waiting to see whatever else Eren had to say, Erwin continued, "You can't be trust right now. Do you understand why?"

"I understand," answered Eren, through gritted teeth. After everything had done for the Scout Regiment, their trust in him was worth as much as a grain of sand. As angry as he wanted to be, he reminded himself that he faked his own death. That must appear extremely sketchy to the higher officials now that he was revealing himself. Everything he built up in the Scout Regiment was the equivalent of shattered glass. Guilt rose up in him as the load of faking his death began to fall on him. "How many people know I'm back? How do I earn your trust back?"

"Only Springer's squad knows. They've been briefed on your arrival and what happens if the spread the news around."

_Connie Springer's a squad leader..._ Eren thought with humor and curiosity. Connie must have improved his wits greatly in order to pull that off. More importantly, Erwin was keeping Eren's existence as secret. Whatever the problem was, Eren's involvement needed to stay a secret. Or... Erwin truly didn't trust Eren anymore and didn't want to falsely build up the hopes of people.

"I request transfer into the Springer squad," Armin suddenly suggested, but Erwin quickly held up his hand.

"You know your place, Arlert." Erwin and Armin held eye contact, neither backing down from their words. After a few moments, Armin sighed and looked down at the ground. Erwin turned his attention back to Eren. "You will spend the next two and a half years training again. I guarantee you're rusty and need it. Especially with maneuver gear since your original scores weren't even up to par."

"I get it," Eren spoke in a defeated tone. Like he needed a reminder that he wasn't the best in maneuver gear. Not that it mattered anymore once he found out he was a titan shifter. Putting two and two together, Eren caught on that they didn't need his titan form. The request for him to come back didn't have to do with the Rogue Titan. He raised an eyebrow and was about to question it, but Erwin spoke again.

"After that, you will spend six months going out on missions with Springer's squad. If Springer has good news to report about you, you'll be welcomed back in. Don't let our hopes down again, Jaeger." With that said, Erwin dismissed them. Eren and Armin saluted him before stepping out.

"I'm sorry... Erwin's gotten cold over the years. You have to understand how much flack he received when 'humanity's last hope' was killed in action. He wasn't very happy to hear you're alive and well. Especially when he found out Levi helped set it up..." Armin tried to create conversation with Eren.

"What is your 'place,' Armin?" Eren cut him off, not concerned what Erwin thought. He had always looked up to the commander, but at that point, he was only concerned about how his friend was doing. Even though he kept his existence a secret from his closest friend, he didn't enjoy it. "And why am I here? It sounds like you don't need the Rogue Titan or the coordinate power. What am _I _needed for?"

"That's classified, Eren. I can't talk to you about it." Armin wouldn't make eye contact with him. Eren had a strong feeling that it truly wasn't classified information. His friend was an excellent liar, but Eren could read him like a book. "Just... Don't forget that titans aren't the only enemy anymore."

"Don't do that to me. Don't push me away. If you don't trust me, I've truly lost everyone."

"I trust that every choice you made was in the best benefit for you. I believe you didn't mean to hurt those close to you, but I do not trust that you won't do something like that again. I have forgiven you, but I don't think the world ever will."

That was the final straw. Eren couldn't find the willpower in himself to join again if everyone was going to treat him like a monster that couldn't be trusted again. That was how the whole world treated him when his shifting ability was first shown. Back then, he was just a kid and was only excited to be recognized by such powerful men from the Scouts. Young Eren didn't care how he was treated. Older Eren, however, could see how unfair their actions toward him were. After constantly proving himself, not very many people seemed to care about how he felt and continued to talk down to him like he was trash. There was no way he could go through that again. It wasn't worth it.

"The Scout Regiment hasn't changed. You going to start calling me 'brat' along with everyone else?" Eren snapped at Armin, but didn't run away as he thought he might. It wasn't like he had anyone to return home to. Carla left to join the military too. He pushed her away with all of his lies. Him rejoining the Scouts was the last thing she asked of him before she left. If anything would make him stay, it was Carla's request. Changing his tune, Eren sighed, "Whatever. Let's just hurry up and start."

That was the last time he saw Armin for three years. Eren didn't see anyone but Connie's squad during training and for missions. Even then, Connie didn't call on Eren's aide that much. He always did what he was told, so it couldn't be that Connie didn't trust him. Not that Eren really cared. His only care the past few weeks was to attend Carla's graduation.

His grapples were latched onto a giant oak tree, suspending him in between two branches. The mission he was out on with Connie's squad was find a reported roaming titan in the forest. Connie's squad was then to lead it toward the walls where the Retainment Corps would take care of the titan from there. This wasn't any different than normal. Such missions tended to be boring and uneventful compared to the adrenaline rushes Eren used to gain from multiple titans at once. Dealing with only one at a time was rather dull.

Shutting his eyes, he only relied on his ears to locate the titan. He wasn't concerned about the titan while his eyes were closed. The soldier was too high up for the eight meter titan to snatch him up. The rumbles from each step gave away which direction the titan was walking. Lucky for him, it was walking toward him. Connie made it a competition during missions and rewarded whoever was the first to find the titan. Eren had yet to win, so it was his chance.

Reaching for his sound flare, Eren opened his eyes and spotted the titan, which he made a noise of disgust at the elderly looking titan. His instructions were easy and clear. The squad would split up and whoever found the titan first would launch the sound flare, allowing the rest of the squad to meet up and continue with the mission. Holding the flare straight up in the air, Eren used his free hand to cover one of his ears. His finger wrapped around the trigger, but froze when he received a better look at the titan.

Blood was splattered all over the titans stomach and face. A pair of bucked teeth stuck over the titan's lower lip, also stained red with blood. The titan had recently claimed a victim. It had taken the life of an innocent person, possibly more. A stench so foul reached his nose, making his eyes water. The blood was definitely fresh. With as much blood that coated the titan, there had to be more than one victim. There was no doubt in Eren's mind.

Dropping the flare, Eren acted out on a whim. He dropped down from above, landing almost perfectly on the titan's back. His sword was aimed at the titan's weak spot and he quickly said, not wanting the titan to grab at him, "Don't worry. It's just a life for the lives you took."

Eren felt a force slam into him. He expected to fall to the ground, but someone had a hold of him. A squadmate had swooped in and grabbed him. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he glanced up to see who stole him away from his kill. Delta Dumont, a twenty-five-year-old goody-goody rule follower, let him go once they were high enough in a tree and far from the titan.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Jaeger? You are supposed to signal us when you found the titan," demanded Delta as she pointed her sword toward the titan. Her short brown hair blew every direction in the wind. When Eren only seemed focused on the titan, she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "Repeat to me what the mission is. Now."

"Split up to find the titan. Once it's located, shoot the sound flare and wait for the rest of the squad to meet up. From there, lead the titan to the walls for the Retainment Corps to watch over it. There, you happy?" Eren was irritated that the younger girl would talk to him in such a manner. He narrowed his green eyes at her gray ones before speaking again. "Do you see and smell that titan? Its killed people! You can't just expect me to let that go. It _murdered _someone for no reason."

"You can't think about such things while out on the field! If it bothers you that badly, piss and whine once we return to headquarters. But you _cannot _let your feelings ruin the missions. The Scouts can't afford shit like that anymore from you. Follow the rules," warned Delta, her voice cold as ice. Groaning, she turned to face the titan. "Do you think the rest of us think it's okay to let murderers live and continue? I sure as hell don't. But that's the magic of the Scout Regiment now, Eren. We stop the titans from their murderous tendencies by trapping them in the walls. The titans can't help what they do. They're just poor souls trapped. That's someone's son and father. We can't take them away."

"That doesn't justify ki-"

Without warning, Delta fired off the sound flare. Eren's hands flew to his ringing ears in an attempt to muffled the rest of the noise. Delta chuckled at his reaction and shouted so he could hear, "Benefits of going deaf in your late teens. I don't have to deal with that."

"A warning would have been nice!" responded Eren, but she wasn't looking at him to read his lips. Whenever she did turn to face him again, Eren questioned, "Why were you following me? Aren't you supposed to travel with your brother for missions like this?"

"Adrien's my step brother," Delta was quick to correct Eren. A lot of emphasis was placed on the word step. "Connie assigned me to you because he was suspicious that your old tendencies would show face. He wasn't wrong to assume that!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eren snapped, but Delta had turned away again. He knew exactly what Connie had meant. If it were up to Eren, he would still destroy every titan. Even after the discovery that titans were humans trapped in a body they couldn't control, Eren still didn't trust the creatures. The monsters continued to eat people. Even worse, the person inside the body could be just as bad as Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie but didn't munch on a titan shifter as snack. It would be safer for everyone if the titans were killed.

Without looking at him or wanting to know his response, Delta told Eren, "I won't tell Connie... This time. If Connie reported you acted out, I don't think Erwin would allow you to go to Kaylie's graduation in a few days."

"Carla," Eren corrected even though Delta would never hear.

_"Sir, I wish to request permission to go to my daughter's graduation at the end of this week," Eren started, trying not to give away how nervous he suddenly became. He stood at attention as he spoke. "Her graduation is only one town over, so I will not be too far away. I will wear a hoodie and wear the hood up so no one will see my face. No one will see Eren Jaeger."_

_ "Granted," Erwin said simply at first. Eren's face gave away his shock, causing Erwin to smirk. Erwin wasn't done yet. The soldier wanted to groan but already knew Erwin would give him limitations and conditions. "Only if Connie approves of your behavior during your next mission, you sit in the very back, and you take Armin and the Dumont siblings with you as protection in case you're detected. Fair?"_

_ "Fair." Disappointment could almost be heard in his voice. The Dumonts were a pain in the ass, but if that was the worst condition Erwin gave him, he would take it. "Thank you, sir."_

_ Eren saluted before grasping the doorknob to leave Erwin's office. It still amazed Eren that the commander didn't go out on missions anymore and just hung out in an office. Even with only one arm, Erwin could do more damage to titans than the average terrified soldier. Times really had changed since Eren was last in the Scouts._

_ "Oh, and Eren?" Erwin suddenly spoke again. Eren paused with his hand on the knob to listen. "The Commander-in-Chief will be the one giving the speech like at every graduation, correct? Make sure to stay as far away as you can."_

_ "She'd kill me herself if she saw me," agreed Eren. The Commander-in-Chief would find out about his existence when Erwin decided the world was ready. Eren wasn't sure if he would be ready for that day ever._

"Hello? Earth to titan boy!"

Eren snapped out of his vision and was face to face with eighteen-year-old Adrien. The boy had a smirk on his face and his arms were crossed. The boy's blond hair was pulled back into a very short ponytail. He jumped at the sight of his fellow soldier. Adrien snickered whenever Eren became aware how close Adrien was standing.

"Bout time. You've been standing there dazed for five minutes! Did seeing a titan for the first time in awhile scare you that badly? Never thought the legendary Rogue Titan would be terrified by a scrawny eight meter!" Adrien suddenly knelt down and his face was awfully close to Eren's crotch. Eren shoved the boy's head away in annoyance and Adrien snickered again. "Just checking if you wet yourself. I'm disappointed. This isn't a very fun story to share anymore."

"Adrien, I have never met anyone I hate more than your dumbass," Eren said but didn't mean. Adrien annoyed the living piss out of Eren, but the two had never had issues as bad as Eren used to have with Jean. Back then, Adrien wouldn't have been so bad but he would have annoyed the hell out of Eren _and _Jean. Or maybe, Jean and Eren would have grown closer because of their annoyance with Adrien.

Connie's elite squad was like a circus for misfits, which Eren included himself in that category. To start, Connie was missing a leg. Eren never asked in case of bringing up bad memories. Connie wore a prosthetic leg while out on missions and a metal leg for casual walking around. The prosthetic leg must help him to use to maneuver gear easier than the metal leg.

Then there was the Dumont step siblings. Delta was deaf, which caused some problems amongst the team. Sasha had told Eren before that Delta was a titan killing machine until the Scout Regiment changed their ideals on titans, so her disability didn't hold back her abilities. It did cause issues for titan scout missions that called for sound flares or if Connie had to shout a change in the plan.

Adrien Dumont was truly something else. Eren didn't think it was possible, but Connie no longer held the spot of dumbest person Eren had ever met. While Connie was only common sense stupid, Adrien was stupid all around and super socially awkward. If Adrien wasn't the best at flying around on the maneuver gear, he wouldn't be in the Scout's most elite squad.

Then there was Eren. The lying, titan shifter. Thanks to Adrien's training, Eren had become much better at using the maneuver gear the second time around. Unfortunately, since he didn't have anyone like Reiner and Annie to spar with, he felt awfully deficient when it came to hand-to-hand. If Erwin was wanting to Eren to eventually use his titan form, Eren needed to be a top notch fighter again. He begged for training, but Erwin would only tell him to spar with Adrien. And every time the two would spar, they always ended up quitting because Adrien didn't understand the concept of a roundhouse kick.

Oddly enough, potato girl was the most normal out of all of them. Sasha was well rounded in wit and physical training. Nor did she have any sort of disability. Eren always wondered why she wasn't the leader, but then she'd screw up something because she thought she could do it alone. She was always bad at team work.

"Eren, you fire the sound flare?" questioned Connie as he landed messily in the tree. His fake leg must be hard to land on with such force. Sasha steadied her husband after landing next to him.

"Uh..." Eren stammered.

Delta patted him really hard on the back before he could say more. The corners of her lips were pulled back into a tight, fake-in Eren's opinion-smile as she faced Connie. "Yep! His technique was interesting, but he did it! Never seen someone hang from a tree like they were offering themselves up."

"He used to do shit like that during our training days! Still not the brightest tool, huh?" chuckled Connie with a smirk on his face. Sasha giggled along with him.

"You're one to talk," Eren faked his laughter along with the couple. He was so close to ruining his chance at attending Carla's graduation. All because his anger toward titans kicked up again. The soldier wouldn't have regretted killing the titan, not even for a second, but he would regret for the rest of his life if he missed such an important moment in Carla's life. Missing graduation would have been a big blow and would ruin any chance of mending their relationship.

Eren stared down at the elderly titan reaching up at the squad. Tightly grippng the handles, he gritted his teeth at the sight. Titans ruined almost everything in his life. A titan took his mother away, his father gave his life so he wouldn't be trapped in a titan body, and he lost countless friends to titans. He'd be damned if a titan would keep him from seeing his daughter. The urge to slaughter it started to grow again.

"It was a joke!" Adrien playfully punched Eren in the shoulder when he said 'joke.' Eren lost his balance for a moment, almost falling out of the tree. When he snapped his head toward Adrien, the boy was still laughing and joking around. "Connie didn't mean it. You might be the smartest one here."

"What are you trying to say?!" demanded Delta. She shoved her brother in annoyance before crossing her arms.

"Let's finish this mission!" Sasha spoke before the step siblings could get into one of their infamous vocal battles. Eren found it mildly entertaining-it reminded him again of his and Jean's old disputes-so he was disappointed he wasn't going to witness another. Sasha pointed at Eren and said, "It's half a day's trip there and back. He's got a graduation to go to in two days, so let's not delay!"

* * *

><p>Eren flipped his cape's hood up when he spotted the big crowd gathering around a stage. That was where Carla's graduation was going to be held. As they walked closer to the crowd, Adrien kept pulling Eren's hood back down. Trying to keep his cool, Eren silently kept putting his hood up.<p>

"Adrien, you're such a child!" Delta snapped at her step brother and slapped his arm when he pulled Eren's hood down for the fifth time. Her fierce glare caused Adrien to frown, which was a rare sight. The idiot was always wearing his crooked smile, but Delta always extinguished it.

"Why do we have this on?" complained Eren as he shuffled uncomfortably into a seat. When they left headquarters, they were instructed to put on maneuver gear along with their uniforms. The uniform made sense since it was a graduation and they should represent their regiment, but the maneuver gear didn't register in Eren's head as a necessity.

"Boss man's orders! You never know when a titan might show up and we need to do our job!" Adrien spat out as if it was common knowledge and sat too close for Eren's comfort. Eren raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"But we're in the middle of a city. Isn't it the Garrison's job to handle the city roamers?"

"I don't like being here. This wasn't a good idea," said Armin suddenly, which were the first words he had said to Eren in three years. His eyes kept darting around the crowd once they found a couple seats in the back few rows. "What if Mi-"

"Armin, it's going to be fine," Eren cut off his friend. He was trying to be positive, but the sight of the Commander-in-Chief stepping up to the podium caused his stomach to drop. It had been a long time since he had seen that face... "She's in charge of the soldiers, not the trainees. She won't know..."

"Until she reads the graduates' names out loud," finished Armin, knowing what Eren was going to say. His eyes suddenly narrowed as he scanned the crowd. Eren figured he was searching for eavesdroppers.

"Well, at least Jean didn't spread the news around of Carla. Since Eren's still kind of in hiding, it's good Jean kept his mouth sh-" Delta started.

"Shut up!" snapped Eren louder than he intended. A couple of people glanced his way from over their shoulders, so Eren quickly ducked his head down and held in a groan. If anyone was going to give his presence away, it would be one of the Dumonts. Once the people turned back around, Eren sighed, "I wish we would have gotten here sooner. I would have liked to talk to Carla."

"I really don't like this. When she reads Carla's name, the whole world is going to know!" Armin voiced his concern again. Eren noticed how calm Armin's stature was despite sounding nervous. He knew something. There was a reason Erwin specifically assigned Armin to tag along.

"Good evening," the woman at the podium commanded the attention of the crowd. Her eyes scanned the entire group, so Eren lowered his head to avoid any form of eye contact. Adrien waved when she looked his way, so Delta elbowed him. The woman didn't seem to see any of those actions and continued to look at all the different faces. "Before us today we have the next generation of soldiers. Over the past three years, every single one of them have worked their hardest to earn the title of a soldier. After tonight, each one of them has the option to pick which corps to join with and wear the uniform with pride.

"There's the Garrison. The Garrison have a station in each big city and branch out into the smaller surrounding towns. They help keep the peace amongst the civilians and are trained to keep everyone safe from the rare roaming titans. From there, the Garrison lead the city roamer to the walls.

"Then there is the Scout Regiment, who works with the wild roaming titans. They travel around to handle reports of titans in towns that are too far from the city, forests and other wild areas of the land. It is the most dangerous job, but it is a job that must be done. It requires a lot of travel across the land and a calm nerve when handling titans. Without them and the Garrison, we would not be able to live freely outside the walls.

"The newest corps, the Retainment Corps work on the wall every day and night. When the Scout Regiment delivers a titan, the Retainment Corps watch the titan inside the wall at all hours to make sure it does not escape. They also make sure that no one breaches the wall like the Colossal and Armored Titan had done all those years ago. They help keep our loved ones that were turned into titans safe inside the walls.

"Lastly, there's the Military Police Brigade! Those that join have the high honor of serving and protecting the king. Some may choose to join the research branch, which works diligently to find a cure for our loved ones inside the walls. Both of those options for the Military Police is only offered to the top three in the physical and mental categories!"

The crowd began to cheer as they waited for the names to be read to the public. As tradition, the six names that would be read aloud would step forward. Eren remembered the thrill of that when he graduated. That was a moment he could never forget. He wondered if Carla managed to place top three in either category. Then he remembered her friend, Hics, wanted to join the MP, so he hoped to hear his name called, too. Even though Liz wanted to join the Retainment Corps, he hoped to hear all three names called.

"Would those called step forward to gain recognition. We'll start with those that qualify for the research branch. Number three is Cecily Rose!"

A girl with orange pigtails rolled a girl in a wheelchair forward. Eren felt his heart drop at the sight. He thought Connie's circus had a lot of handicaps, but the poor girl was paralyzed. If she hadn't placed in the top three in that category, she would have never been a soldier. It was a painful thought for him.

"Number two is Carla Ja..." In that moment, Mikasa Ackerman froze. It was rare for her to freeze up like that, but she couldn't get herself to speak anymore once she read the name in her head. She moved out from behind the podium quickly and scanned the crowd for Eren.

"Shit," Delta said under her breath. She tugged on Eren's arm as an indication they should leave.

"Not yet! She won't see me," Eren tried to calm Delta, but as he said it, his eyes locked onto Mikasa's. All the way from the back, he could see the tears forming in her eyes. Trying to save a situation from turning disastrous, he quickly pointed toward the ground multiple times. A recognize signal that stated: Stay focused on the mission. Don't make a scene.

With shaking hands, she too pointed at the ground as she took her place behind the podium again. Her signal that he better stay after her speech. Luckily, she collected herself enough to not run to him in that moment. Mikasa cleared her throat before speaking again, but something was still clearly wrong. "Sorry... Is Carla here?"

Eren was too focused on Mikasa and didn't notice that his daughter didn't step forward. His eyes frantically searched the crowd, but he couldn't spot Carla anywhere. That couldn't be right. Carla was a very structured girl and wouldn't miss an appointment, especially one as important as this. Something wasn't right.

"Sit down!" Armin pulled Eren, who didn't even realize he stood up, back into his chair.

Confused and not wanting to it to extend graduation, Mikasa continued to read the names. Eren wasn't the only one bothered at Carla's absence. When Hics was called forward, he appeared to be sick and he too had wandering eyes. What officially sent him over was when he couldn't find Liz amongst the trainees.

"Armin, something happened. I can't sit here and wait," Eren stated and tried to stand again. Armin nodded at Adrien, who pulled Eren back down with a great force. Not caring if people saw him anymore, Eren yelled at Armin, "Where is she, Armin? You knew, didn't you?! Is that why we're wearing maneuver gear?! In case we have to make a quick escape?!"

People began to stare at Eren. Some of their mouths hung open when the recognized their dead hero. He didn't care what they thought of him and his choices anymore. All that mattered was what happened to his daughter.

"Look, we had suspicions that-"

Armin never finished his explanation. A scream of bloody murder filled the air. Eren turned his head in time to see a titan step out from behind a building. It was only a five meter titan, but a titan no matter the size would thrive in an atmosphere such as that. There were plenty of unprepared people at the graduation.

"We should get out of here!" Delta shouted over the crowd, which was beginning to panic. She couldn't take her eyes off of the brown haired titan. Its long hair blew every direction when it bent over to grab someone in the crowd.

The Garrison troops attending were trying as quick as they could to lead the crowd away when two more showed face. The group was frozen in spot and people were running every direction. Adrien nervously spoke up, disagreeing with Delta, "Three titans! The Garrison isn't going to be able to handle three. Most of them will be standing there pissing their pants! We need to help!"

The other two titans were more masculine in appearance. One of two stepped on a couple of people running before grabbing its own snack like the first titan had. The third titan crawled after the running people at an incredible speed.

"We can't go until we find my daughter and her friends!" Eren shouted and jerked away from Armin's grasp. He held his hand close to his mouth as he debated shifting. At that point, whether people knew he was alive or not didn't matter. The soldier had to follow through with his duty and protect the public. Most importantly, he had to protect his daughter wherever he was. "Go big or go home, right?"

"Mr. Jaeger, no!" a young female voice screamed and jerked his hand away before he bit it.

Eren recognized Liz. The girl's hair was frizzy and wild. She was out of breath from running from who-knows-where. He raised his hand to bite it anyways, but Liz then said words that spun his world upside down.

"One of those titans is Carla! Someone turned her!"


	6. Episode 6: The Clash and Aftermath

Episode 6

What was once a milestone in his life he had looked forward to became a snowball of different emotions. His best friend, who was also the girl he loved, would graduate with him and they would head toward the Capital. It was supposed to be like a dream, but as any dream can entail, it morphed his happiness into grief. She cared for someone else more. Instead of spending time together, she would spend time with _him_. Despite how it sounded, he wasn't bitter. In fact, he was very happy for her. As long as she was satisfied and he treated her well, he would do nothing to change the outcome. That was the type of guy he was. Everyone's happiness came before his own, especially hers.

He stood alone in the crowd. It wasn't long until graduation, so the trainees-their titles would soon change-were speaking to their families before changing into uniforms for the ceremony. A sigh escaped him, knowing his mom wouldn't be attending. She had passed away from an illness over the three years of training. The teen was only allowed a few days off from training to attend his mother's funeral then it was straight back to work. To his surprise, he saw two familiar faces stick out among the rest.

"Ron? Henry?" he called out and pushed through people to reach his two older brothers, both were dressed in their Military Police uniform. They stood much taller than their youngest brother, for both men were six foot or taller. His excitement grew the closer he came to his brothers. Until he saw who stood talking to them.

"Hics! We were just talking about you!" Renzo greeted him when he finally reached them.

"People still call you that? After... How many years has it been since I last saw you?" laughed Henry Johnson, who ran his fingers through his black-brown hair to keep it slicked back. His nose crinkled as he tried to think.

"I was five when you left for training. It's been ten years. Ron at least visited a couple of times." Hics tried not to show the nervousness in his voice. The two men were much older than he was and he looked up to them. They held higher ranks in the Military Police, so Hics could only dream he would reach their level someday.

"This guy here was telling us about how you placed number one! I laughed because you're so small! You certainly took after mom when it comes to height instead of dad," snickered Ron as he crossed his arms and nodded at Renzo.

"What are you laughing at? You barely even placed top three in your training corps! Let Tyler bask in his moment of glory before being put under our wing in the Military Police." Henry jabbed Ron in the side. A non-verbal conversation passed between the brothers before Henry let out a sigh. "When will you let me pull that stick out of your ass? It's so far up there, I could roast you over a fire."

"I'll take it out when you take the world more seriously," Ron said through gritted teeth. After glaring at Henry for a moment, Ron added, "Let's just go find seats before all the good ones are taken."

"Right! Seats! See you later, bro!" Henry exclaimed before patting his younger brother on the back and chasing after Ron.

Hics had never seen his eldest brother so uptight, but he never really knew his brothers that well. Ron had left for training before Hics was even born, while Hics didn't have much time with Henry before he left for the military also. It was no secret that Hics was an accident, but he wasn't exempt from the family tradition of the Military Police any less than his older brothers.

"Your brothers are really cool. I wish I had brothers like them. After talking to them, they sound like big shots in the MP. You're so lucky to have mentors like them once you get there! Do you think you can put a good word in for me and we can be trained in the Military Police together?" Renzo questioned Hics after his brothers left. "I would love to train with such a good friend. We still going to be challenging each other like old times?"

Renzo was suddenly super chatty. They never really talked much whenever Carla wasn't around, so it surprised Hics that Renzo even considered him a good friend. Everything used to be tense between the two, but it was never in ill-will. Maybe after all that time, Hics was the only one to actually feel tense towards Renzo. He realized his reason for being tense moments after such thoughts.

"Hics!" Carla greeted him with a tight hug.

The past few days, Hics had avoided any contact with Carla. He watched from a distance as Carla clung onto Renzo as if her life had depended on it. There were a couple of times that she had tried to approach him, but Hics would turn the other direction. Hics knew eventually he'd be able to talk to her again, but he needed time to heal from losing her to Renzo.

He raised his arms to hug her back, but let them fall back down to his side. A sigh escaped him and stared at the ground, refusing to look at her. It wasn't fun being so cold, but he couldn't let himself continue believing he had a chance. If he would have known it might be the last time he would see her like that, he would have greeted her much differently.

"I've missed you. This is our last night with Liz, so the three of us should do something together! Are you up for that?" Carla offered once she let go of him. She backed up next to Renzo and allowed him to take her hand. Her smile faded when Hics didn't look at her. The worry was obvious in her tone. "Hey, Tyler..."

"I'm doing something with my brothers tonight," he lied. That was the last thing he said to Carla.

"Hey!" Sofia practically screamed in an overly cheery voice when she joined up with the group. She held out her hand to Hics, which he hesitantly shook. The girl gave his hand a squeeze before letting go. "I just wanted to congratulate everyone beforehand! I'm heading out tonight with my mom right after, so I won't be able to say it if I don't do it now! So congratulations, hiccup boy!"

"Uh... Thanks, science chick." Hics was very uncomfortable with Sofia grasping his hand, so he was quick to pull away.

Sofia grabbed Carla's hand next and shook viciously as she grinned from ear to ear. "Congrats, titan's daughter!"

"He's hum... Nevermind." Carla decided not to argue with Sofia when she knew Sofia would never listen. She raised an eyebrow in annoyance and jerked her hand away.

"Congrats, uh..." Sofia stopped talking and stared at her and Renzo touching hands. She froze for a moment and her face flushed red. For once, she let go of the other person first and slowly backed up. Her expression had morphed from excitement to confusion. "I think I should go. I shouldn't be here."

Once she was gone, Renzo scratched the back of his head and inquired, "What was that all about? She's such a strange girl."

"Sofia's not an idiot. Maybe she caught on how uncomfortable she made us," Hics answered him. He let out a huff and shrugged before he walked toward the building where their uniforms hanged for them to change into. "But I'm going to take that as my leave also."

Carla reached for him, but he pushed by her. "I don't understand. We used to be inseparable..." Carla's voice trailed off. "I feel like something happened and he won't tell me. What could be so bad?"

"I don't know, but it is about time we go change for the ceremony. Tomorrow, we officially pick our regiments and start our new lives!" Renzo said with excitement and pride in his voice. His smile was huge as he tried to pull her the same direction Hics had gone, but he stopped when Carla didn't follow. "Are you wanting to stay a bit longer to look for Eren?"

"He's here. He wouldn't miss it," she told him, not sure if she was trying to convince him or herself.

"He'd rather die than miss out on this, right, Carls?" Liz laughed as she slapped her best friend on the back. She could read the doubt all over Carla's face, but her words turned the doubt into a smile. Carla nodded in agreement.

"I know he would. Just don't be too long, okay? Come inside soon." Renzo kissed Carla on the forehead before walking away.

"I've scouted this whole place out, but I haven't seen him..." Liz told Carla, not wanting to lie to her. Carla's face fell, but Liz was quick to speak again. "He'll be here though. But if he's not... Then you know you made the right choice. No regrets, right?"

"I'll have some if he is here. I acted out on a whim instead of listening to what he had to say. That was awful of me..."

"You running away to the military is the most Jaeger thing you've ever done. You and him are really different, but you both act on impulse. He'll understand that. Don't let it get you down on such a special day!" Liz held her fist out and waited for Carla to bump it. Her friend sighed and smiled before bumping her fist. "I'll wait out here with you, if you want. I've already said hello to my parents."

"I really appreciate it. I can't believe tonight is our last night to-"

"Don't make me cry, Carls. Let's wait to have that discussion tonight! You, me, and Hics. One last night." Liz scanned to the crowd and didn't see Carla's reaction to her offer. When Carla didn't say anything, Liz turned back to her. "Is Hics still avoiding you?"

"Yeah... I just want to know what I did." Carla couldn't recall Hics ever being mad at her. Liz and Carla had a few fights before, but Hics was always so welcoming and understanding of everything she said and did. She didn't know what set him off suddenly after many years of friendship.

"Maybe it's not something you did, but something he's struggling with. Ever notice how he never talks about his problems? He's only ever listened to ours. If he doesn't want to talk it out, he can handle it on his own. Just give him time," said Liz, trying not to hint too strongly at the issue at hand. Hics told Liz how he felt about Carla in confidence that she wouldn't tell, so Liz would keep that promise to her friend.

"But he's told you!" countered Carla, trying not to sound hurt. "What did he say? I want to fix this."

"Don't do that to me," groaned Liz as she returned to scanning the crowd. "It's not my place to tell you anything he's said and I will never tell him things you've said. So don't make me choose. Drop it. Maybe if you weren't so clingy to Renzo all of a sudden, he would have talked to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" defended Carla.

"Take your blinders off. It's really not hard to figure out."

Before more could be said, trainees began to walk out in a straight line and in uniform. The girls gasped, realizing they had lost track of time. They were going to be late to their own graduation. The two ran passed the men and women they had grown close to over the three years.

"Hurry! It's about to start!" Leon said in a low tone as the girls ran by the orderly line.

"The Commander-in-Chief might be calling names by the time you come out!" added Ruby, who was pushing Cecily in a wheelchair.

"It doesn't take that long change. They'll make it. Try to stay positive, Ruby," Cecily laughed at her friend. Ruby sighed but smiled at her friend.

"Shut up back there!" Jean Kirstein called from the front of the line. He noticed Carla and Liz running toward the building and groaned. _Of course it's Jaeger that's going to show up late. She's going to make my first training squad look really lenient and stupid._ "Jaeger! Bandura! Hurry your asses up! You better not make the 117 training corps look bad!"

"He can't let up on us _one _time. We screw up _one _time!" Liz said in between breaths. She flung the door open and held it for Carla to run through. Moments later, Liz regretted not going in first. If she had, maybe the events would have ended up differently.

A figure in a black, hooded jacket tackled Carla to the ground. Before Liz could react, a person in a white hooded jacket slapped a hand over her mouth and pushed her against the wall. She tried to move forward, but the person had a syringe pointed at Liz's chest. The hood covered the majority of the person's face, but Liz could see the bottom half of their mouth. A low voice said to her, "Shhhhhhh... Be a good girl and you won't end up with the same fate as your friend."

Tears streamed from her eyes as she watched Carla fight back against her attacker. The figure attempted to pin her down with their knees, but Carla was kicking and pushing too much. Carla managed to hit her attacker's hand just right, knocking the syringe to the floor. It slid a few feet away from Carla and the hooded figure. After the syringe was knocked away, the attacker punched Carla's face with enough force to knock her out cold.

Not wanting to standby any longer, Liz kneed the white hooded attacker in the stomach. Even though she had not placed in the top three physically, Liz was definitely the strongest girl in the 117 training corps. The shock of her assault sent the figure to the ground and coughing. She lacked in speed, but she rammed into the black hooded figure before the syringe could be picked up again. The attacked landed on their stomach with Liz on their back.

"Leave us alone!" Liz cried out, but she knew that they didn't want anything to do with her. They only wanted to attack Carla, so Liz was only guilty by association. If she wanted, she could run and save herself. Whatever they were wanting to do with Carla was a message to Eren, not Liz. But Liz wasn't selfish like that. She would do all she could to stop the attack. The girl raised her elbow high before she brought it down with as much force as she could.

The white hooded figure was back on their feet and wrapped their arms around Liz's center. Before she could bring her elbow down, she was pulled off the other person. The white hooded figure was much stronger and taller than his or her partner, so they tossed Liz to the side with no problem. She tried to hurry back to her feet, but the taller attacker kicked her in the side with all their might. Not once, but a few times. She coughed and wheezed as she took hit after hit.

The other attacker slowly stood up and picked up the syringe. He or she dusted their shoulders before sinking to their knees next to Carla. Everything moved in slow motion for Liz as she watched the person raise Carla's arm. The syringe pierced Carla's vein and the fluid flowed in. The person grunted to their partner once the deed was done.

"You might want to hurry out of here if you value your life," chuckled the white hooded figure in the same low voice as before. The duo left before Liz could stand or before they could witness their handy work on Carla.

Adrien placed his hand on Liz's back, bringing her out of her flashback. She gasped at his touch, remembering their current situation. Those attackers not only turned Carla, they turned two other innocent people into titans. Two normal and a crawling abnormal was attacking the graduates and the citizens that attended.

"Someone purposely attacked Carla! I think someone knew you'd be here tonight!" Liz tried to talk to her best friend's father. Instead of listening, he appeared to be in some other world. His eyes were stuck on the titan a distance in front of him. "The Garrison wouldn't kill her, right? They'd just lead Carla to the walls, right?"

"They did this because of me..." Eren had heard Liz's words, but was still frozen in place. "My legacy is going to be the death of my family."

"Trainee, you know what happened here?" Armin suddenly asked, catching Liz off guard. She hesitated, which gave Armin all he needed to know for the moment. "Evacuate _now_. You hold valuable information that we will need once this all gets situated. You are needed alive."

"But, si-" Liz started her rebuttal.

"_Now!_ That's an order!"

Liz gave Eren one last sad gaze before following Armin's command and running into the evacuating crowd.

"Not again. This can't be happening again..." Eren kept stating over and over as people screamed and ran the opposite direction. He slowly took steps towards his daughter. Well, _titan _daughter. Tears flooded his eyes the closer he became. "I can't go through this again. I can't lose someone else this way..."

"Eren, come on! The Garrison can handle this! They'll lead the titans to the walls and-"

"And what?!" snapped Eren, pulling his arm out of Delta's grasp. The tears spilt over when he pointed to the mindless titan that was once his tiny daughter. His voice was harsh and piercing as he looked Carla over. "They'll just lock her away in the walls just like any titan! I... I have to fix this!"

"I have no idea what you're saying when you don't look at me, but knowing you, you're going to do something to get us all killed!" Delta practically screamed at him, but he was no longer listening.

The mindless titan leaned over to snatch up a girl in a wheelchair. Eren would later learn that her name was Cecily and the girl pushing the wheelchair was Ruby. Ruby pushed the wheelchair, which only rolled a few yards before Cecily would fall out from the sudden force, with all the power she had. Carla grabbed Ruby by her feet and held her upside down.

"Ruby!" Cecily screamed as Leon picked her up bridal style. She tried her best to glance over Leon's shoulder. "We can't just leave her! Leon, take me back there! We have to help!"

"I'm not dying today and neither are you." Leon's tone was cold but tears streamed down his face as he talked. His voice was a bit weaker once he blended into the evacuating crowd. "I'm so sorry, Ruby... I'm so sorry."

Ruby watched as her two friends left, but she watched with a smile. It was what she wanted: the safety of her friends. Once Carla held her at eye level, Ruby glared at the titan. She almost laughed in nervousness at the sight. Her tone was shaky and scared as she spoke. "Who would have thought I would have sacrificed myself for someone else? Damn, I grew soft."

"No!" shrieked Cecily and reached toward Ruby's direction in hopes that maybe the Garrison would take action. She shut her eyes, not wanting to see the following events.

Carla's mindless titan used its free hand to grip center and squeezed its fist tightly. The titan wiggled its fingers, causing blood to seep through and drip to the ground. Ruby's legs stopped kicking and laid still on top of the fingers that crushed the life out of her. Her dead body was then dropped into Carla's mouth.

Eren fell to his knees, not sure what to do anymore. His daughter had eaten a human right before his eyes. The moral dilemma sprang up of whether such a violent titan could be saved. His words from days beforehand rang in his mind. _Do you see and smell that titan? Its killed people! You can't just expect me to let that go. It murdered someone for no reason. _This was different and more personal. The titan this time was his own flesh and blood. He couldn't kill her for something out of her control nor could he let her continue. Options ran through his mind until he settled on what he believed to be the best option.

"Stand up. Accept what you see before you as fact, Eren. I'm going to get you out of here. Let the Garrison do their job." Armin tried to pull Eren to his feet. Eren pushed Armin off and slowly stood up on his own. The father took a step toward Carla, almost as if he was ignoring Armin's commands, but Armin had another issue to deal with.

"Adrien, don't!" Delta shouted after her step brother.

Adrien shot his grapples into a building near the crawler. The crawler had made its way to where the Garrison tried to evacuate the citizens underground. He landed on his feet on the roof and ran full speed to the edge and jumped off the edge. A grapple landed above the weak spot and Adrien launched himself at the neck. A chunk of titan neck flew in the air when Adrien sliced the neck, but his cut wasn't deep enough. The crawler stopped moving toward the people and slowly turned its head to stare where Adrien stood on its shoulder.

"S-S-Sorry, titan, sir. Don't take it personal. I'm just trying to do my job!" Adrien stated, as if the titan would actually consider his thoughts and feelings. He gasped when the titan tried to spin on its back to crush him. Adrien jumped off and landed on the ground with a hard crash. While the titan tried to stand back on its hands and feet, Adrien tried to get up, but fell back down when pain spread through his right shin. Instead, he ended up trying to scoot away from the titan, which was almost back over.

Before the titan could launch at him, it flopped on its stomach and stopped moving. Delta stared down at her brother with the angriest face she could muster before hopping down next to him. As she helped him to his feet, she hissed, "You idiot! What were you thinking? They could have led that titan to the walls!"

"Delta, don't act like you didn't know that titan would have wrecked havoc if it reached the people! That human trapped as the mindless titan... His or her one life is not worth the many it would have killed!" Adrien defended his actions.

"Soldiers, what the hell are you two doing? Who gave you the order to kill?" a Garrison soldier yelled at the Dumonts. "That is a human life you just took! I ought to have you arrested."

"Sir, they did it under my order," Armin was quick to lie once he caught up with Adrien and Delta. He stood in between the Garrison soldier and the Dumonts. "That titan was an abnormal and would have taken many more lives at this rate. My soldiers were only trying to spare more lives by taking one. Sometimes it's a necessary evil. I don't see your soldiers taking any sort of action other than standing around here or hiding in the shadows."

"Speak for yourself!" the Garrison officer spat back and pointed toward the third titan that was following Garrison soldiers toward the direction that Armin assumed was the walls. One titan was dead while another was currently being led away from the people. "We can handle this ourselves, Mr. Arlert. Erwin is going to hear of this. Your second-in-command position will be revoked."

"Being a part of the Scout Regiment is knowing when taking a life is necessary. Are you telling us to go against our regiment's rules and regulations? According to the Scout Regiment, we have done nothing wrong. Good luck revoking my position," challenged Armin, not letting the Garrison officer win him over.

"No! What is that suicidal bastard doing?!"

Everyone turned their heads toward Eren. The man was walking with his arms waving toward the remaining titan-Carla's mindless titan. At first, Carla wouldn't take notice of Eren. The titan finally turned toward him when he shouted, "Aye, Carla!"

The titan stomped as it turned toward Eren. He was crying as he planted himself in place, ready for the pain to come. A smile came across his face and he sighed. This was it for him. His time was done. A few more words were spoken, words that he believed to be his final words. "They say when a titan eats a titan shifter, the titan gets to return to a human and becomes a shifter themselves. That is the closest thing to a cure our world has. I will not let you suffer the same fate as your mother. I tried to keep you safe in this world, but I have caused more harm to you than good. Having me as a father is a curse... Having anything to do with me is a curse. I'm sorry to leave you like this, but you deserve a chance at life."

Carla's titan hand reached for him near the end of his speech, but he did nothing to escape her. Eren let out a sigh once he was done talking. The titan fingers were almost around him, so he shut his eyes. He was ready. His death would mean his daughter would be free from her mindless state, so he didn't care. It was time.

"Eren!" Eren heard Armin, Delta, and Adrien yell his name.

A slashing noise made Eren fling his eyes open. Mikasa stood in between him and Carla's hand, which was steaming as it healed. The giant fingers that sat on the ground began to dissolve only seconds later. She glared at him from over her shoulder before picking him up without effort. It was almost like old times. The woman ran the opposite direction and towards the underground tunnel the Garrison was leading citizens.

"Put me down! Mikasa, let me go!" Eren beat his fist on her back, but she didn't waver. Either he really lacked in strength from lack of practice or she grew stronger. Possibly both. He beat on her back a couple more times before she launched him into the underground tunnel.

"Are you crazy?!" Delta shouted at him as the doors to the outside closed. Everyone that the soldiers could save had made it to the underground tunnel system. Eren wouldn't look at her.

Mikasa suddenly punched Eren, almost knocking him off of his feet. In retaliation, he swung a fist at her, but she easily ducked below it. He began to cry as he swung a half-hearted second punch at her. She caught his fist and slowly lowered it to his side. Once he was off guard, she hit him again, but managed to knock him to the ground.

"You fight! You hear me? That's what you told me all that time ago. I heard what you said out there. You have to fight not only for your life, but hers, too!" Mikasa took a moment to regain her patience before offering Eren a hand.

"I... I was her only chance to turn back! Now she's stuck!" Eren shouted at Mikasa and smacked her hand away. He unsteadily stood up on his own before he let out more of his anger. "You just took her only chance at life! I will never forgive you for that!"

"And Carla would never forgive you for letting her eat you! Do you remember how you felt when you found out you ate your dad? Don't put her through the same pain," Armin jumped in to back up Mikasa.

"You! You get away from me. You knew something might happen!" Eren redirected his anger at Armin. He clinched his fist, but there was enough violence for the day. Eren couldn't find it in his heart to fight anyone or anything anymore. "And you let it... All of you get away from me! You should have let me stay in hiding!"

"This is exactly why we couldn't let you stay in hiding! Someone is out there attacking the public and turning them to titans." Armin shook his head as if he couldn't believe Eren couldn't see the logic behind it. "Now two people you love are roaming inside the walls as titans. Do you think that's a coincidence? Aubrey _and _Carla. They're targeting _you_, Eren. We need you in order to find them."

"Go to hell!" Eren shouted and shoved Armin. How _dare _he bring up Aubrey? His heart pounded in his chest at the thought of his once lover roaming inside the walls as a mindless titan. He shoved Armin again. "I know it's my fault! You don't have to remind me that I destroy everything in my wake. I'm well aware, you bastard. Mikasa should have let me die out there!"

"But you're alive! Do you know how much it hurt everyone that you died? Do you know how much it hurt me..." Mikasa's voice trailed off as her eyes kept looking over Eren. She couldn't believe that he stood before her. He had been _dead _for a little over fifteen years, yet he stood before her perfectly healthy. "As long as I breathe, you will _not _die. I can't lose you again."

The hug from Mikasa caught him off guard. All the anger he felt quickly turned into a deeper emotion. The sound of her crying added more to the hurt he was already feeling. He knew how much pain she must be in for her to breakdown in such a way and yet again, it was his fault. How many lives had he ruined by simply existing? Eren, for once, returned the hug and continued to cry.

"I'm sorry, Mikasa... I'm so sorry."


End file.
